Naruto: Legacy of the Sannin
by KingTW
Summary: Post Manga Chapter 380: The fight between Konoha and Akatsuki continues. Where will Team Snake fit into all of this? Is there more danger that lurks besides Akatsuki? The story that details the Sannin's true accomplishment.. Team 7! NaruSaku sideplot.
1. Flight of a Sannin

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**

**Author Notes - **This is my first fanfiction that I have ever written, So I hope that I don't disappoint you readers to much. I suppose I should clear a few things up first as well. With this fiction, I will be starting it at Naruto: chapter 381 page 1 of the manga, everything up until then you can assume has happened already. (It's the point in which Jiraiya has been stabbed by that chakra weapon of Pein's. The first few chapters will also be more of a prologue to my story, as I am going to be using them to set up where I want my fic to be, so I will try to post them asap, so we can get to the real story. I also plan on this being a long fanfic. I also plan to break a few rules with some techniques I'm going to be using in the story. This stories pairing will be NaruSaku (which seems to be the most detested) and maybe 1 or 2 more. Sorry to say, my decision on NaruSaku is final, and there will be no changing my mind on it. As for Lemons, I have that on my list as a maybe. I have a certain point in my pre-plan where I could set a lemon up, but I have time to decide on whether or not I want to do that or not, but I would 1st like to increase my skills as a writer before I prioritize creating a lemon, so when the time comes, we'll see. Romance is also only a sideplot. I'm not sure how fast I'll be updating my story, I suppose it'll depend on the mood I'm in. If I'm really in a good writing mood, they'll be fast, and if not, they won't be as fast. Hence, I'd rather take a long time and give you a quality chapter instead of slapping something quick together that doesn't have much quality in it at all. As for requests in the story, I suppose I may sometimes accept minor things, but I already have a pretty general idea of where I want my story to go. But if there's something in there that annoys you to no end, I'll take a look at it and see if I am able to change it. I also not only accept constructive criticism, I ENCOURAGE it. If I get reviews simply saying "You suck, you'll never make it as a writer" (chances are when I get flamed, it won't be as tame as that), it doesn't help me become a better writer and give you a better story. Tell me why I suck so I can look at it and try to correct what I'm doing so I can give you a better piece of writing. Also the same for when you like something, tell me what you liked about it, so I can attempt to emphasize these points in my story. I think I've said everything I need to say, so without further ado, I give you the 1st chapter.

_this font is for thoughts_

_this font is for flashbacks_

**this font is for jutsus and techniques.**

**this font is for kyuubi**

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Chapter 1: Flight of A Sannin 

"Ghurgh"

There had been a rainstorm earlier, the weather was terrible, and it seemed like the rain would never stop. However, the rain had recently died down bringing down sunshine in the Hidden Village of Amegakure, which was situated in the Country of Rain. It wasn't too hot or too cold, but it was just the perfect temperature for one to be comfortable in. There was, however, one person currently in the village who definitely wasn't thinking of the weather, and he definitely wasn't comfortable at all, though, one wouldn't exactly be comfortable with a blade going straight through his shoulder.

This man was Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, and a man to be reckoned, as he was one of the most powerful ninja out there. He was currently involved in a climactic battle with the persons known as "Pein." Jiraiya was also in an unfamiliar position in this battle. He was losing, and he was losing badly.

Jiraiya looked down at one of the Pein from his spot he had taken refuge in, the blade seemed to dig in a little more into his shoulder."gah, haah, haah." Jiraiya was forcing himself to take deep breath's as the pain in his right shoulder blade increased. Then, Jiraiya finally spoke.

"I finally got one," he mumbled, "He charged right into my barrier"

There were also two toad sages on perched on his shoulders. They had been aiding him in this battle relentlessly, never taking focus off of the enemy, until now. The female toad sage on his left shoulder was concerned more about Jiraiya's well being than the enemy he had finally caught.

"You sure your alright kiddo?" the sage referred to as Ma questioned.

"I'll," The Sannin paused to catch his breath, "I'll manage.."

Jiraiya then began to stand up, but stopped midway. He seemed to be paralyzed from something. All of the sudden, Jiraiya began to feel all of his chakra go out of control. He tried to gain control of it, but he couldn't. Something was clearly and unusually out of place. Jiraiya then crumpled back down to the ground.

"I can't, my chakra's going crazy, I can't control it!" Jiraiya screamed, thanking the gods that he had his barrier up, otherwise the other Pein's would've killed him on the spot. "It's this thing!" he screamed again.

The Toad Sage known as Pa, immediately jumped into action. He hopped on Jiraiyas back and pulled the mysterious blade out of him.

"I guess it ain't enough to just look weird, they gotta use crazy weapons too.." Pa said.

Jiraiya was hardly paying attention to anything being said by Ma and Pa, he was more concentrated on the pain in his shoulder blade, which was over the top compared to the pain he was used to in most of his fights.

"These Boys ain't people," Ma exclaimed, "They're something else.."

Jiraiya was still hardly paying attention, though, he wasn't concentrating on the pain in his shoulder now. He was contemplating the situation at hand, and trying to put together pieces of a puzzle, trying to figure out the true identity of Pein.

_Flashback_

_Jiraiya had just captured 2 of the lower ranked Rain Nin, he had turned 1 into a frog already, and the other, afraid of his fate was spilling his guts on what he knew._

_"No one really knows what he looks like, and some people have even spread rumors that he doesn't exist." The captured Nin said._

_End Flashback_

As Jiraiya contemplated those words, more thoughts entered his mind.

_His face, there's no doubt in mind that he's Yahiko. But somehow, he has Nagato's Rinnegan... did he steal them from him somehow? But.. even if he did, all the rest of him have it too. How could that have happened. And Plus..._

_Flashback_

_Jiraiya was currently on the steps of the dwelling he was staying at with his students Yahiko, Nagato, and Konan. Jiraiya was currently giving a lecture to Nagato.".. But knowing what it feels like to be hurt is exactly why we try to be kind to others. That's what makes us human" Jiraiya finished._

_Nagato contemplated his words for a moment and then asked "What do I have to do to be like that?"_

_Jiraiya simply replied "You have to grow up."_

_Nagato once again questioned the Sannin. "How.. do I do that?"_

_It was now Jiraiya's turn to contemplate Nagato words for a moment. "How indeed?" he answered. "I think you'll need to answer that one your own."_

_End Flashback_

Jiraiya suddenly looked up and gazed upon the cloudless sky, finally taking note that the rain had stopped and given way to a beautiful day.

_I may have gotten 1, but there are still five more, and I'm not sure how long this barrier jutsu will last. If I'm going to attack again.. I don't have much time to come up with a strategy. I'd be lucky to get 1 more in my state, and that's if everything was to go my way. I hate to admit this, even to myself.. but... he's just way to powerful. The only thing I had on him was the element of surprise, with being able to have the two toad sages cast a genjutsu on him. That actually worked, to a degree.. it's too bad that there wasn't only three of them, then I wouldn't be in this much trouble. Now.. should I try to go out with a bang, or should I use the last of my strength to escape this battle and flee._

Flee.. Jiraiya didn't like the thought of that. Jiraiya had never had to flee a battle before in his life. Hell, the thought had never even entered his mind before! Now, the thought hovered ominously in his head. He knew fleeing was definitely the only way he'd get out of this alive, if he was able to flee that is. But should he run? There was a chance that he wouldn't even be able to run away successfully. Pein was that powerful!

_I can't flee! The chances of anyone ever getting this close to be able to damage Pein is next to none. No, I have to stay, I have to try to do some damage, and maybe give some hope to other attempts on him._

Jiraiya finally stood up, and began to prepare to make his final move.. his curtain call.

"Hey!" Ma said, "What do you think your doing, you can't be planning to go out there again sonny."

Pa could only agree whole-heartedly. "That's definitely out of the question, you've got to get out of here, now." Pa paused. "This battle is over, and as much as I hate to admit it.. we've lost, we have to retreat to fight another day."

Jiraiya couldn't believe his ears. This couldn't be right, this must be a genjutsu! a bad one at that, but a genjutsu none the less. But how could Pein have gotten a genjutsu on Jiraiya through his barrier? That should be impossible! But it had to be one. He would never in his right mind hear the two married Toad Sages perched on his shoulders even talk about retreating, never mind actually wanting to!

"This ain't a genjutsu sonny.." Ma replied, seemingly reading his thoughts, "though the way we must sound, You'd almost think it was.

Jiraiya went from a state of disbelief to a state of anger. "How can you even be thinking of fleeing!" He yelled, "We can't flee, there's a chance no one will get this close to Pein again, we have to stay, stand firm, and make one last stand!" Jiraiya paused and lowered his tone, "..Besides, I have to find out.. I must know, who Pein is." Jiraiya then flopped back down into a sitting position, waiting for a reply.

"And you'll definitely find out if you go out there and fight again, that's for sure," Ma exclaimed.

"However, if you attempt to flee and don't make it, you'll definitely find out anyways." Pa said.

Jiraiya then smirked triumphantly inside. "And so you see why I have to go out and fight again? Because at least I have a chance to take another one down with me." Jiraiya exclaimed "But if I flee and get caught, I find out his true identity having done no damage what so ever!"

This time it was Pa's turn to give a victorious smirk, though, he made no attempt to hide it."That's true, but what happens if you are able to escape, and survive to fight another day? You can prepare others for a crack at Pein, and prepare yourself for another attempt."

"Not only that," Ma continued, "but we also have this one body." She motioned to the already dead part of Pein that had been killed by Jiraiya's barrier. "We can try to salvage it out of here, for further study."

"But!...What if!.." Jiraiya tried to come up with some excuse to have a reason to die heroically, but he couldn't come up with one. Not only that but another thought came to mind

_Naruto.. He definitely isn't ready for an opponent of this magnitude, hell, I doubt anyone is capable for an opponent such as Pein. I definitely have to get back, I definitely have to get Naruto ready! If I was to die, there would be no warning of Pein, and he would most likely end up capturing Naruto.. obtain the Kyuubi.. and crush Konoha._

He bowed down in defeat. "So, suppose that I agree to running away? Do you have an escape plan?" Jiraiya paused for a moment before continuing, "Chances are, it's going to be a lot harder fleeing from here than taking down another one and dying." Jiraiya concluded his rant and awaited the Toad Sages answer.

"Yes.." said Pa.

"However.." continued Ma.

Jiraiya was beside himself. "However!... However!" He fumed, "What's the problem"

Pa looked over at his counterpart, as she gazed back at him, for what seemed like minutes, rather than the seconds it really took, before she finally gave him a nod of approval.

"The plan we have, will require a lot of quick thinking, and a lot of quick acting, you'll also have to prepare for the worst situation ahead of time, so your able to maneuver your way out of here" Pa paused and looked up towards the sky, seemingly contemplating something. He finally continued. "Also.. it's highly unlikely that Ma and myself will make it out of here."

Jiraiya looked at Ma and Pa with a profound dumb stricken look on his face, trying to sense any deception, but he couldn't find any, as he gazed into the saddened eyes of the Toad Sages. "That's out of the question. You both can't die, your highly regarded in the whole order of the Toad, you can't die here. I won't-"

"There are more important matters in the world than our survival" Pa countered, raising a webbed hand to cut off Jiraiya. "If there isn't any warning about this guy, the world would be in serious trouble." Pa continued "No, there's no question in the matter, people that oppose this guy definitely need to be warned."

Jiraiya looked sorrowfully at his toad companions. He then bowed his head in shame. "I'm sorry.. that I failed you.. because of my inability to use my Hermit Mode.. you guys are about to give up your lives."

"Nonsense sonny," Ma exclaimed, "this wasn't just your failure."

"That's right kid," Pa continued, "We were all in this together, we all share this failure." Pa gave Jiraiya a re-assuring smile, as Ma also gave Jiraiya this gesture.

Jiraiya was able to force a smile to return to the toad couple. "Alright then.. let's hear this plan of yours."

* * *

In a matter of speaking, Pein was bored. 

He, and his other five Peins had been searching for Jiraiya for over an hour, and had had little success. Pein had finally began to become annoyed before one of his counterparts ran into a barrier. He and his other selves rushed towards the source of the barrier, but could not see anything, they were able to see half of one of his bodies being covered ever so slightly by the shimmering water. Pein now knew he had found him, but knew there was no way through the barrier. That led him to the conclusion of waiting for Jiraiya to come out, to show himself, to be mauled by himself, the six.. no, now the five forms of Pein.. Jiraiya would have to pay dearly for that. Yes, he would make Jiraiya suffer for that insubordination. How dare he do that to a God such as himself!

It had been another hour, which to Pein, seemed to take much more time than that, and he was beginning to become impatient. He wanted to end this quickly, and get back to his tower, and contemplate his plans.. no.. Madara had ordered him to track down the Kyuubi container. He would have to do that, but in his mind, he wasn't ready. Pein wanted to prepare more to take down the one known as Uzumaki Naruto, because when he did that, he also wanted to take Konoha down at the same time, and crush all of his enemies in one swift, fluent motion.

_I suppose there's the Uchiha boy.. Uchiha Sasuke. But that won't matter for long, Itachi will take care of him.. yes he's more than capable of doing that.. with that sharingan of his.._

He turned his attention back on the spot where the barrier was, where Jiraiya was. He would have to come out soon, he had to! There's only so long a person in his state can hold up a barrier such as that. No, no it wouldn't be much longer now.

Finally, as if on cue, Pein saw a glimpse of the Sannin hop out towards the shoreline, through one of his other selves. He and his counterpart's immediately converged on Jiraiya's position, and attacked. They proceeded to impale him with many blades. Then, in a puff of smoke, Jiraiya disappeared only to be replaced by one of the toads that had been perched ever so loyally on Jiraiyas shoulder, it looked to be the male sage.

Then, in alarm, he noticed Jiraiya heading off in a different direction.

_This has to be the real one, it looks as though this one was a diversion, to help the real Jiraiya escape. Clever.. but futile!_

He and his other fellows, save one, immediately charged after this other Jiraiya, they were able to catch up to him rather quickly, and proceeded to tear him apart, make him feel pain for defying him. But once again, the form of Jiraiya disappeared in a puff of smoke, and another toad, was there, dead in it's place like the other one.

_Another toad! Such impudence! This one looks to be the other toad, the female one perched on his other shoulder. Then, where the hell is he!?!?_

His answer came rather quickly, as the Pein he had left behind spotted him appear out of thin air, and immediately gave chase.

_A camouflage technique! I knew he had replacement techniques, but not a technique of camouflage!!_

The Pein that was on Jiraiyas tale was gaining fast, and it would only be a matter of time before he caught him. He would make him pay! Then, as suddenly as those thoughts came, Jiraiya turned around and made quick hand seals.

**"Gama Abura Bakufuu!!"** The Sannin cried.

Oil immediately began to spew out of his mouth, covering the shoreline in the substance. Jiraiya then proceeded to take a few steps backwards from the oil.

_Oil?!?! What's oil supposed to do to me, it's not like I'm going to slip to my death... wait, hand seals? He's planning another attack... that's what the oil's for! Shit..._

Jiraiya was indeed making hand signs, with one hand no less. After he rather quickly did so, he inhaled. Pein knew what was coming, and there was no stopping it. He prepared for the worst. Jiraiya then gave him a smirk of triumph before crying out

**"Katon: Gamayu Endan"**

The oil that the Sannin had spewed out immediately erupted into flame, covering the shoreline, in which there was no way around the fire. The Pein that had given chase could only take it, as he was engulfed by the flame, and burnt beyond recognition, before the body ultimately died.

The other four Peins all watched this happen, and then turned their attention to the fleeing Sannin. Then, there was an evil glint in the eyes of the Peins, followed with a smirk.

_So.. the "Gallant Jiraiya" has decided to flee the battle. It's no matter I suppose. Let him live, knowing that he ran, ran away from a fight, clinging on to what remains of his life in desperation. If he's that desperate and determined to get away, I suppose he deserves to cling for a little while longer. Then there's the fact that he killed two of my bodies. That is, I must admit, a very strong accomplishment in itself. However, losing these two bodies will most likely work to my advantage._

Pein contemplated these thoughts for a moment, and then turned back towards the city. He had to prepare, not for Madara's plans, but for his own.

* * *

Jiraiya chanced a look behind him, to see how close Pein was to him, but when he looked, the saw that Pein was no where to be seen, nor, could he sense his chakra presence near him. He stopped to rest for a moment, dropping the heavy load that was one of the Pein's bodies down to the ground. He felt a quick surge of pain through his shoulder, and he immediately clutched it on instinct. This was a bad wound, and it had also been infected as well, he had to get back to Konoha soon, before the wound sapped him of all his strength. He quickly patched up the spot where his left arm would've been. He had to stop the bleeding, or he would die from blood loss. 

He then remembered the Toad Sages

_Flashback_

_"The plan is simple," Pa said, "but effective, and has a high chance of success if we all play our parts."_

_"You'll have to use a transformation technique on us," Ma continued, "One of us will head towards the shore of Amegakure, The Pein's will most likely spot that person immediately, and they probably won't last long, they will all converge on the spot."_

_Pa took over. "Meanwhile, whoever doesn't go first will take off in a completely different direction once they converge on the first one of us, they will most likely notice this, and immediately attack and converge again."_

_"At the same time, you'll take off under the guise of your Toad Camouflage Technique," And head in the general direction of Konoha. You'll also have to create some sort of separation between yourself and Pein." Ma concluded._

_Jiraiya soaked all of this info in, and took a moment before replying "I already have a means to separate myself from the battle." The Toad Sages gave him a smile, and Jiraiya continued. "Both of you.. thank you much for helping me out today... I won't let your deaths be in vain."_

_Ma laughed heartedly at this statement. "You damn well better not sonny, you hear."_

_Pa joined in the laughter before getting serious. "Well, we best get started.. I'll go first." Pa hopped towards the edge of the barrier before turning back. "You make sure you get out of here, alive, and warn everyone on your side, the fate of the world may depend on it."_

_End Flashback_

Jiraiya shed a couple tears before quickly wiping them away. "Wow.. first I'm running away from a battle, and now I'm crying, what else is going to change? Am I going to all of the sudden be a man that scares off the ladies?!" Jiraiya gave that thought a chuckle before dismissing it. There would be no way chicks would stop falling head over heels for a man such as he.

The Sannin then looked down at the body. "Well, I suppose it's time I head off, I don't have much time..."

Jiraiya heaved the body over his right shoulder, and sped away into the distance.

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Gama Abura Bakufuu - **Toad Oil Blast 

**Gamayu Endan - **Fire Element:Toad Oil Fire Bullet

**Author Notes - **Well, my 1st ever chapter in a fanfic, I hope you all enjoyed it. I have my reasons for keeping Jiraiya alive, I wouldn't keep him alive without serving some sort of purpose. I'll be getting to Naruto in due time, but once again, this is just a prologue to set everything up, and you'll definitely have enough Naruto once the fic gets rolling, if I can get it to do so. Next chapter, the focus will switch to Sasuke and Team Snake, along with Kisame and Itachi. Well, give me a couple reviews I suppose, I look forward to reading them, and until next time.


	2. You Still Lack Hatred

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**

**Author Notes - **Well, I suppose this will be my 2nd chapter now. This chapter is going to, as I said at the end of my last chapter, focus on Sasuke and Team Snake, as well as Itachi and Kisame. This is also part of my Prologue. I plan to have at least 1 more prologue chapter, maybe 2, depending on how smoothly a certain transition that I have planned fits in, whether it would be good with my next chapter, or as a separate chapter in itself. After I've done the prologue, I will do a transition chapter. It will be part of the actual story I suppose, but it also serves to set up what I have planned. I think I also forgot to mention something in my notes last chapter. If I did write it, I'll just re-iterate what I said. I don't aim to please every1. It's impossible for me to get 100 percent of the readers of this story to like it. I am simply writing a fanfiction, because it's something I've always wanted to do for a long time and I finally though up a good plot for 1, so I decided to go ahead with it. There will be points in this story where you will disagree with what I am writing, there's no question about that, it's extremely hard to make a perfect story in which some1 likes everything that they read. My plot won't change very much at all. I still have a few question marks for certain pieces, but my story is generally planned as is. Also, let me add that when I posted chapter 1, I had already finished the 1st 3 chapters and was halfway through chapter 4. I decided to work on those for a little while before posting my story, so I wouldn't have you waiting tons of time for prologue chapters. Anyhow, enough with all the "addressing the masses" crap, on with Chapter 2.

_this font is for thoughts_

_this font is for flashbacks_

**this font is for jutsus and techniques.**

**this font is for kyuubi**

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Chapter 2: You Still Lack Hatred 

"It's sure been a long time since I've been here"

A dark man, who looked to be in his late teens to early twenties, slowly and silently walked the corridors of the abandoned building, his foot-steps echoing throughout the structure. This was a strange occurrence, as these halls were never graced these days. In fact, they hadn't even been graced with the presence of anyone for three years. Even then, it was always one person.. the same person. However seven years ago, the dwellings in this certain area were as lively as ever. Many people made their homes here, and the streets were always buzzing with people going about there everyday lives. That was so long ago...

The man stopped in front of a stone, throne like chair, which was assumed to be where the leader of the people who used to live here would sit during the council of the Uchiha clan. Yes, this place was once the place where the renowned Uchiha Clan made their home.

The person who stood here sported a black cloak, with a design of red clouds covering the article of cloth. On his head, he graced a forehead protector, which had the design of a leaf in the center of the metal plate, however, the leaf had a defining scratch going through the middle of it. He also had those all too familiar red eyes that the Uchiha Clan was famous for.

This man was Uchiha Itachi, the man who was known for murdering his entire clan at the young age of thirteen. He had been a promising ninja, becoming an ANBU captain at the same age, but his ambition for power drove him to eliminate the entire Uchiha clan, save the one Uchiha Sasuke. No one ever knew why Itachi had left his brother alive. Some thought that he left him alive for the sake of having a living reminder of guilt walk the earth. Others thought that he simply left him alive because he wasn't worth killing. Everyone had their speculations, but the only one who knew the true reasoning for leaving the boy alive was Itachi himself.

Itachi turned around and seated himself in the throne, his cloak billowing behind and beneath him as he sat. He then glanced a bit to his right, as if he was trying to sense something. "It appears the boy is almost here," he muttered, "that's good, I don't like to wait very long.."

The boy Itachi was referring to was Uchiha Sasuke.

_Flashback_

_The clone of Itachi lay on the rough terrain, bloody and beaten, with the shadow of Uchiha Sasuke standing above him. Itachi coughed out a bit of blood before speaking, "You've gotten.. much stronger.."_

_Sasuke only stood there, a look of deep and utter hatred gracing his face. The form of Itachi then began to shape into a flock of ravens. Before disappearing into thin air, his voice reverberated once more. "Come to the Uchiha's Hideout Alone, we'll end this there."_

_In the next moment, the flock of ravens vanished._

_End Flashback_

A small smile appeared on Itachi's face. He had been waiting for this day, for these moments, for seven years. He had been waiting for Uchiha Sasuke to grow strong, and to be ready, to be ready to face Itachi in a fight, a fight in which only one would walk away, and in which the winner would walk away with the grand prize.

_I sure do hope that he's gained the Mangekyu, otherwise.. coming here, setting this fight up...will have been for nothing. However, I really shouldn't be worrying about that, Sasuke has to have the Mangekyu, he has to know that there's no way that he can beat me without it. He wouldn't come here without that power.. he wouldn't stand a chance._

In that moment, a strong gust of wind blew through the hall, and leaves began to gather on a spot a few feet in front of Itachi. He maintained a rather bored face in the event. A form then began to manifest itself in the middle of the gathering leaves, and in the next second, the form of another dark man, who sported the same, yet slightly different eyes, and looked to be in his mid teens, stepped out.

"Why hello, little brother."

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke stepped out of the swirling leaves. 

Instantly, an all to familiar voice proceeded to echo throughout the building, "Why hello, little brother." Sasuke glared at the man, sitting in the throne.

_How dare he sit in that chair! Only the leaders of the clan are allowed to sit there, and yet, that murderous fuck sits there and mocks myself.. and the Uchiha Clan by desecrating that monumental spot._

Sasuke spoke for the first time. "Uchiha...Itachi!"

Itachi only replied with a sickening smile. Sasuke stared back, contemplating the man before him. Itachi seemed to do the same with Sasuke, his eyes showed it, he was studying Sasuke, from the feet up. Itachi then finally spoke up. "Yes, it appears I was right about one thing," he stated, "yes, you've definitely grown, not only in height, but in power. Your definitely a much different person from the little boy I crushed beneath my heel three years ago."

Itachi continued to survey Sasuke, until their eyes met, both their gazes lingering on the other for a few moments, before Itachi finally gave a frown. "Although, despite all of this, I can't help but be disappointed. You still haven't gained the Mangekyu Sharingan." Itachi stood up before continuing, "so, pray tell, how do you plan to defeat me, here and now, with your eyes being far inferior to mine."

Sasuke assumed a battle stance, his sword on the hilt of his trusty katana, the Kusanagi. "Don't mock me, the difference in our eyes doesn't matter." Sasuke began to gather his chakra, preparing for a fight. "I will still kill you, here and now," Sasuke continued, "I have lived for this day, for seven years.. this is my purpose in life, I am an avenger!"

Itachi had already gone back to his bored look as he continued to survey the angry boy in front of him. "This battle has no meaning to me at all, " he said, "You do not have the Mangekyu Sharingan, therefore you have no chance to defeat me." Itachi paused for a few seconds before continuing "come find me when you have gained those eyes I speak of, then.. and only then, will I give you my time and attention."

To say the least, Sasuke was livid.

_How dare he undermine me, He knows nothing of my real power.. I won't let him walk away._

Sasuke, trying his hardest to keep his temper under control stated "Don't... underestimate ... ME!!"

With that, Uchiha Sasuke transferred the chakra to his feet, and charged at his brother with amazing speed. Bringing out his Katana, Sasuke swiped horizontally at Itachi.. and connected! Only to be replaced with a hunk of firewood.

_Replacement technique, damnit! Where is he_

His answer was upon him immediately. Itachi stood ten paces behind Sasuke and chucked a few shuriken at Sasuke. Sasuke proceeded to deflect them with his Kusanagi, and tossed a few of his own Itachi's way. Itachi countered by tossing an equal amount to what Sasuke tossed, nullifying the attack.

Itachi disappeared from the spot, and immediately reappeared point blank in front of Sasuke. He brought his right arm around to try to hook him in the face. Sasuke proceeded to bring his arm up, catching the blow with his left fore-arm. Immediately, Sasuke brought his right leg around to try and catch Itachi in the face, only to have his leg caught in mid air by Itachi's free hand.

Sasuke smirked, and dropped both hands to the ground, this action caused Itachi to lunge forwards a bit, Sasuke proceeded to tread the stone floor with his hands and bring his left foot to the face of Itachi. It caught him dead on and sent Itachi spinning into the wall behind him.

Sasuke flipped up back onto his feet to survey his handiwork, when the dust settled however, Itachi was no where to be found. Then a sudden chakra signal came to Sasuke from the left. Sasuke turned just in time to see Itachi coming at him, Kunai in hand. Sasuke quickly ducked the oncoming attack, and the Kunai grazed the top of his hair.

_Damnit, that was close_

Sasuke then brought his hand up to connect on an uppercut, but Itachi was able to flip out of the way and retreat to a safe distance from another counter attack. Immediately, both Uchihas began to perform the exact same seals, preparing for another attack.

**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu**

The brothers inhaled, and then spat fire at the other, The Fire from there mouths collided with the others in between them. The impact of the two jutsus caused them to explode over the hall, and raise the temperature of the building dramatically, but both Sasuke and Itachi refused to cease their attack, and continued to spew fire from their mouths.

Eventually, they both ran out of breath, and were forced to discontinue their respective attacks. Sasuke squinted his eyes to try and get a better view of the man across for him, but once again examined only air. Sasuke looked around before finally looking to his right, only to receive a face full of Itachi's sandal, which sent him sprawling towards the wall.

Sasuke recovered his focus in time and prepared to counter. He brought his feet in between himself and the wall and performed a few seals. When his feet hit the wall, Sasuke bent his leg's and rocketed himself off, electricity enveloping his hand.

**Chidori**

Sasuke had caught Itachi off guard with his quick recovery, and Itachi paid the price for letting his guard down, as Sasuke's Chidori caught Itachi in the right shoulder. The sudden pain that shot up through Itachi was enormous, and it knocked him into the steps in front of the chair, and even further, as Itachi continued to roll towards the back wall.

Sasuke smiled, seeing that Itachi was hurt only made Sasuke all the more happy. Itachi slowly got up, eyes closed in pain. This was Sasuke's chance! Sasuke prepared to unleash his ultimate attack on Itachi, never taking his eyes of Itachi, Sasuke began to gather the necessary chakra to finish his brother off.

Itachi proceeded to open his eyes, and time stood still.

* * *

Itachi had finally been able to unleash Tsukuyomi. He was right at home now. This was his world, he controlled it, this fight was over. Itachi now focused his gaze on his brother, now strapped down to a table in the middle of a dark room, which had no walls, only a floor, the table, and the two brothers. Itachi then proceeded to walk towards Sasuke, never lifting his malicious gaze from the younger boy. When Itachi reached the table, Sasuke glared up at his older brother with malice and terror. 

"Let me the fuck go," Sasuke ordered, "Undo this fucking jutsu and fight me like a man."

Itachi merely returned the order with a malicious smile. "I don't think your in any position to be demanding things of me, little brother." Itachi paused before continuing "I will give you credit though, in that short bout you proved to me that you are indeed very strong, even without the Mangekyu, however, you are now in my world, in which, as we both already know, I control space, time, and the mass of objects."

Sasuke attempted to spit on Itachi, only to have it land on his face. "Now now little brother, don't get so hasty." Itachi then pulled out a huge hammer and ten inch nail pins. "For the next 72 hours, I will proceed to nail these pins into various places on your body, starting now." And with that, Itachi nailed the first pin into Sasuke's knee cap.

Sasuke screamed out in pain as Itachi nailed another pin into his other knee. Itachi then proceeded to nail the third pin right in the abdomen on Sasuke, which in turn, caused Sasuke to spit out blood over the side of the table. Itachi paid no mind to what Sasuke was doing, and nailed down both of his elbows. He then proceeded to bring a nail to Sasuke's forehead, and brought the hammer towards the nail. Sasuke screamed in pain, and then darkness.

Sasuke woke up again, only to find himself strapped to the same table. Itachi hovered above him. "For the next 72 hours, I will proceed to nails these pins into various places on your body," and once again, Itachi brought the nail down into Sasuke's knee cap. Itachi repeated the pattern and reached his forehead, and brought the hammer down.

After about three more rounds of the same punishment, Sasuke woke up to find himself strapped to the same table, but instead, when he looked around, he could see many versions of him strapped down to similar tables. A version of Itachi hovered over each Sasuke, hammer and pins in hand.

"haah, haah, haah," Sasuke breathed, "When is this cough fucking jutsu going to be over."

Itachi returned the question with an evil smile. "Why, it's only been 1 second, we've only just begun." And with those words, Itachi proceeded with the usual routine...

* * *

Only a second in the real world passed, and the illusion was over. 

Itachi took a moment to re-take in his surroundings before fixing his gaze on where his younger brother was. Sasuke was now curled up in a ball, in a comatose like state, but not dead, no.. Itachi couldn't kill him yet, not while Sasuke lacked the Mangekyu Sharingan.

Itachi slowly strutted his way towards his fallen brother before stopped mere inches away from him. Itachi lowered his head towards Sasuke's ear and spoke. "I know you're still there, somewhere, little brother. Do you want to know the reason you still cannot defeat me?" Itachi paused before continuing, "It's because you still lack the necessary hatred."

Itachi rose and took a step towards the door to the building before stopping. He turned back to Sasuke and lowered his head again. "Gain the Mangekyu, only then, will you be able to stand against me, only then, will you be able to have a hope of killing me." And with that, Itachi turned his back on his brother and proceeded to make his way out of the building.

"I wonder what Kisame is up to?"

* * *

Suigetsu rolled back before regaining his footing on top of the water. 

Trying to catch his breath, Suigetsu looked across the surface of the newly created body of water to his opponent, Hoshigaki Kisame. The two swordsmen had been at it for a while, mainly because of their lack of patience to wait for both Uchihas. Deciding against sitting back and talking like old chums while they waited, they mutually agreed on a battle to the death. It sure sounded a lot more fun than talking.

However, Suigetsu was beginning to question his earlier judgment against talking. The position he was in wasn't to promising. The battle had been considerably even, considering they were on a Kisame type battlefield. No the problem wasn't his skill, but it was his chakra supply. He could feel a drainage in chakra, and was struggling more and more during the course of the clash as it went on. On the flip side, Kisame just seemed to be getting warmed up, his chakra supply seemed monstrous, and Suigetsu knew he was in trouble.

Kisame hollered across the water "Hey! little boy! you getting a little tired over there?!"

Suigetsu simply grunted and smiled. "heh" was his one word answer, and he re-assumed his ready position. Kisame simply gave a shark like smile and also re-assumed his battle stance.

Suigetsu disappeared from his spot and appeared on Kisame's right. Trying to catch Kisame of guard, he brought his sword around to try and take out his legs. Kisame saw this from a mile away and jumped the attack. While in mid air, Kisame brought his sword down to the middle of Suigetsu's head, only to have it blocked by Suigetsu. The impact of the collision caused water to rise in every direction from their position, causing tidal waves to protrude out from where they were. The left corner of Suigetsu's mouth turned into a smirk, as he thrusted off the Samehada, which in turn caused Kisame to stumble back, giving Suigetsu a brief opening in which to capitalize on.

**Suiton: Suigadon**

Spike like creations of water protruded from the surface and charged in the direction of Kisame, Kisame, quickly gathered himself and performed the necessary defense

**Ninpou Suiton Suijinheki**

A Wall of Water rose from the surface of the lake like terrain, and covered Kisame on sides, effectively nullifying Suigetsu's attack. As the water dropped back down, Suigetsu immediately charged Kisame with an overhead slice. Kisame quickly regained his composure and leapt off to the side. In mid air, Kisame performed hand seals, and unleashed a technique on Suigetsu, as he landed.

**Suiryuudan No Jutsu**

A Watery Version of a Dragon protruded from the body of water, and immediately charged Suigetsu. Suigetsu comfortably jumped back to avoid the oncoming attack, but failed to realize, that Kisame had been riding the technique and was right above Suigetsu. Suigetsu noticed this a bit to late and paid the price. The whole front of his arm got shaved off as Kisame came down and plunged into the water below.

"Augh!" Suigetsu screamed, clutching his arm. He noticed that the whole front of his arm was bleeding profusely, and that Kisame had disappeared. "Fuck!" exclaimed Suigetsu. Suigetsu began to retreat a bit from his position, all the while clutching his arm with his other hand. This proved to be a big mistake. Kisame came up right behind Suigetsu and raised his right leg to deal a punishing kick. Suigetsu turned around only to receive a mouthful of Kisame's Ninja Sandal. Suigetsu was knocked a good twenty metres over to the side. Not only that, but he had dropped the Kubigiri-Houchou.

_Fuck, I lost Zabuza-sempai's sword.. I'm in deep shit now._

Suigetsu spat out a bit of blood, and looked towards Kisame with a look of dread. Kisame was holding the sword he had dropped. Kisame studied it for a moment before chucking it towards a nearby tree on the side of the battlefield. He sure regretted telling Karin and Jugo to stay out of the fight no matter what. He sure could use their help now.

"You call yourself a swordsman?!" Suigetsu looked over towards Kisame who was yelling over to Suigetsu, "A good swordsman doesn't drop his sword in battle, no that's not a good thing at all." Kisame paused before adding, "To bad you won't live to learn from it." With that Kisame began to perform handseals.

**Suiton: Suigadon**

Water Spikes once again rose from the surface and attacked Suigetsu. Suigetsu jumped and quickly countered with the same defense Kisame had used.

**Ninpou Suiton Suijinheki**

Once again, Water rose in a wall like surface to prevent the spikes from hitting him. As the water fell again, he heard Kisame's voice echo.

**Suiton: Baku Suishouha**

"Shit.." Suigetsu muttered, and then a huge tidal waves of water collided with Suigetsu and knocked him under the water. Suigetsu drifted for a moment, dazed from the attack, as it had caught him unaware. Suigetsu proceeded to regain himself and regather his surroundings. He looked up towards the surface and began to make his way towards the light. When he was near the top, he caught another dose of Kisame's sandal. Suigetsu hit the bottom of the lake's floor and looked up to see Kisame performing more handseals and put his hand to the surface.

_Fucking Hell, how much damn chakra does that guy have?!_

**Goshokuzame**

5 sharks protruded from Kisame's hand and proceeded to make their way towards Suigetsu. Suigetsu looked at the sharks, a feeling of dread crossing his mind. He was in trouble now, and he had to get out of the water fast. The sharks charged at Suigetsu from all directions. Suigetsu weaved and dodged his way through the obvious attacks of the man-eaters.

_It's a good thing their attacks are so obvious and one-dimensional. I'd be screwed otherwise._

Suigetsu then finally got a breath of air, and was about to lift himself out of the water, but he got to taste more of Kisame's sandal, as he took another kick to the mouth from Kisame. Suigetsu spat out more blood before being grabbed by the throat by Kisame and lifted into the air, his leg's dangling in the water.

Then Kisame spoke in deadly voice, "It's over."

At that moment, a shark from under Suigetsu proceeded to rip off his legs, separating them from his torso. Suigetsu screamed out in agony.

He felt incredibly weak at that moment. He was losing blood incredibly fast, due to the fact that he no longer had legs.Kisame lifted what remained of Suigetsu a bit higher with his left hand while bringing his Samehada around with his right.

"Kisame," another voice spoke, "it's time to go, I'm done with Sasuke for now."

Suigetsu looked over the shoulder of Kisame to see Uchiha Itachi. He was sporting a black eye, but other than that, he looked fine.

_Damn.. looks like Sasuke didn't fare much better than I did..._

"Awww Itachi, I was just about to finish this," Kisame replied, "Look at the state of him, it would be cruel to leave him living after this."

Itachi maintained a bored look on his face. "Well finish up, we've got better things to do than play with these kids."

Kisame grinned, "Ya ya, I won't be long, just give me a moment." With that Kisame turned his attention back towards Suigetsu, that shark like smile returning to his face as he brought his Samehada to it's ready position. "Well kid, it was fun, seeing you brought me back, but unfortunately for you, this fight is over, you lose."

With that, Kisame brought his sword to the throat of Suigetsu and cut, Shaving off the arteries in his neck.

_Damn.. this wasn't the way I wanted to go out.. Guess you don't always get what you want..._

The last thing Suigetsu's eyes gazed upon was the Shark Like Smile of Kisame. After that sight, darkness enveloped him

* * *

Itachi looked on as Kisame dealt the killing blow to the other swordsman. Itachi didn't show it, but within himself, he gave a smile. Kisame killing that kid put a glaring exclamation mark on a day of success. 

_Well, I suppose the fact that Sasuke didn't have the Mangekyu isn't exactly a victory_

Kisame turned around to meet Itachi's face. "Well, that was fun, and from the looks of it, you had a bit of fun too." Itachi merely smiled at the comment, so Kisame continued. "What about those two kids, should we get rid of them?"

Itachi immediately replied, "No.. they aren't worth the effort right now. Besides, Sasuke needs them at the moment anyways." Kisame looked confused so Itachi continued. "The boy didn't have the Mangekyu, therefore, he wasn't worth killing, so, I left him with a parting gift." With that, Itachi flashed his eyes and gave a malevolent smile.

Kisame frowned. "You know that technique isn't good for you, you got to be more careful with that." Kisame paused before adding, "That technique is like a fucking drug to you for crying out loud!"

Itachi contemplated his words for a minute before commenting. "It doesn't matter.. soon, the side effects of the Mangekyu won't matter to me.. if all goes according to plan anyways." Itachi walked a little ways past Kisame, signaling that is was time to go.

Kisame flashed his shark like smile before following Itachi.

* * *

Karin and Jugo watched as Kisame and Itachi left the area, looks of horror still etched on their faces. It's not everyday that you witness a teammate mutilated, especially in the way Suigetsu went out. 

Jugo, still with a look of horror on his face, broke the silence. "You think we should've helped him.. despite his orders not to interfere?"

Karin looked back, a solemn look across her face, which was a rare sight. "No.. don't get me wrong, I thought he was a complete ass, but I wanted to help him.. however.. he asked us not to, it felt like we'd be doing more damage in dishonoring his request."

Jugo quickly retorted "But, if we had helped, maybe he wouldn't be drifting in the bottom of that lake, maybe that would've been Kisame instead."

Karin was also quick to retort. "No, it probably would've been worse.. Itachi would've come back and joined in, and all three of us would be at the bottom of that lake." Karin proceeded to gaze into the crystalline water.

Jugo followed her gaze, and they both sat on their respective tree limbs in silence for a few minutes, soaking in everything that had just happened. A thought quickly crossed Jugo's mind. "Hey, what about Sasuke, maybe we should go see how he's doing!"

Karin's gaze shot up to Jugo before replying "Ya! That's right! Itachi said he hadn't killed him.. we should go check up on him right away."

She stood up and waiting for Jugo to stand up as well, then they both took off across the water and towards the Uchiha Hideout.

**

* * *

Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu **- Fire Element: Great Fireball Technique 

**Chidori** - Thousand Birds

**Tsukuyomi **- God of the Moon

**Suiton: Suigadon** - Water Element: Water Fang Projectile

**Ninpou Suiton Suijinheki **- Water Element: Water Wall

**Suiryuudan No Jutsu** - Water Dragon Projectile Technique

**Suiton: Baku Suishouha** - Water Element: Bursting Water Collision Waves

**Goshokuzame** - 5 Sharks Eating

**Author Notes -** Well, that concludes the 2nd chapter. These were my 1st 2 fight scenes. They were a lot shorter than I plan for my other fight scenes to be. Considering this is a prologue though, I'm not going to go nuts with huge fights. Besides, I also want feedback on how you think my fights scenes are, so I can improve them if need be. I also wrote in my 1st death. (if you didn't already know, Suigetsu is kind of dead). And with that, I've concluded that part of the prologue. Once again, I have my reasons for doing what I did with this chapter. I did what I did to set up later parts of the fiction. For the incredibly huge Suigetsu fan base, sorry, but his death was necessary for my story. You'll see why later on. Anyways, next chapter, we'll be turning our attention to Naruto and company, who have met up with Tobi on their way to track down Sasuke. Well, anyways, Give me some reviews xD, I look forward to reading your input, and until next time.


	3. Supposed to be Dead

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**

**Author Notes - **Well now, guess it's time for chapter 3. With this chapter, we will turn our attention to Naruto and company. Where they were left off with where I started my fic, they had just run into Tobi. Also in this chapter, I will reveal Tobi's true identity for this fic (rather early but eh). When I look at the actual Naruto Manga, to tell you the truth I have no real thoughts on who Tobi is, I think it could be anybody. However here, his identity was decided when I started planning this out. As I'm writing this now, I believe this is going to be the last official prologue chapter. In saying that, I have 2 more points to make on that. First off, I only say I believe it will because I write these 1st author notes before I write the actual chapter. I have a general idea of what I plan for each chapter I write when I go into it, but as I write this, I haven't even come up with the title for this chapter let alone the 1st sentence. However, I think that I'll be able to get to every point I want to get to smoothly enough that I'll be able to end the official Prologue. My second point is that it's only the official prologue. The next chapter I write could be considered the last part of the prologue or the first part of the story (I believe I said this last chapter). This chapter also will be where my first "radical" tweak will occur. You'll know what I mean by it when you read it. With the tweak, I'll explain why I did it at the end of the chapter, and I'm also expecting a rather mixed reaction to it. Well, you've probably heard enough of my babbling, on with Chapter 3.

_this font is for thoughts_

_this font is for flashbacks_

**this font is for jutsus and techniques.**

**this font is for kyuubi**

**

* * *

**

Chapter 3: Supposed to be Dead 

"What the Fuck!"

The young genin in the orange jumpsuit looked behind him in disbelief, as he hurtled towards the ground with great speed. He had reason to be as shocked as he was however, his attack pattern had been flawless, and he had his enemy fooled until the last second, when it was supposed to be to late for him to counter, yet his attack didn't phase the masked Akatsuki member one bit. In fact, he and his attack had gone straight through his enemy, and now, instead of ending the battle quickly, the boy found himself on a collision course with solid ground, which definitely had not been his objective.

The kid looked on as the ground only became more clear and closer than ever, his clone having dispelled itself after the failed attack. All he could do is brace for the impending impact, and it was what the young genin had resided to do. It seemed to take a lifetime for the unavoidable to happen, but even as much as he had readied himself, he still wasn't completely ready for the end of the fall.

A large explosion ensued as the boy's teammates could only look on in worry and doubt. One of his followers cried out "Naruto-kun," worried about his safety.

Yes, this boy was known as Uzumaki Naruto, the number one most surprising ninja of Konoha, and also the jailer of the Kyuubi. After the collision he had, there was only one thing he was concerned about, and it definitely wasn't his safety. No that wasn't it, he was wondering how the fuck the Akatsuki had dodged his attack.

_Damnit, I had him lined up in my sights. I had him completely off guard. He wasn't expecting it! Yet, he was able to avoid the attack. It went straight through him too.. how is that possible?... damn, if that's his ability, this fight could be a lot more than we bargained for.._

As he contemplated the situation, his thoughts drifted towards his best friend

_Flashback_

_A Naruto clone was hopping from tree to tree, and like the other clones that had been sent out, it was looking for Sasuke, As the clone hopped along it could hear voices in the distance. The first voice belonged to a girl_

_"There's a bunch of people with identical chakra all around us!" it stated, "What the Hell is this?!"_

_Another unfamiliar voice rang out next, this time, a males. "Sasuke, do we need to take another route?"_

_Then, an all to familiar voice answered "Ignore it, we'll charge straight through."_

_The male replied "Thank God, detours always wipe me out."_

_The clone immediately halted it's progress, the voice of his friend having shocked him. He looked in the direction in which the voices were coming from. In the distance, he could make out four figures quickly making their way towards him. One of them, being the all to familiar Sasuke, who was currently forming a chidori on his hand. The clone was about to react to the hostile action, but only yelled out the words "Sasuke," as the chidori collided with him._

_As this happened, the real Naruto received the knowledge that his clone had just found out._

_"I found him!"_

_His companions looked at him, shocked expressions etched on their faces._

_"Way to go Naruto!" Kiba yelled, "Which Way?"_

_Naruto followed Kiba a couple more steps before yelling out "Follow Me!"_

_End Flashback_

_No way, we have to get past this guy, we have to get to where Sasuke is!_

And with those thoughts, Naruto stood up in an explosion of his own chakra flare, his gaze concentrated upon the Akatsuki on the mess of branches in front of him. His comrades gave a sigh of relief as Naruto stood once again, focused and ready to fight.

"Naruto-kun, are you alright?" Hinata asked.

Naruto shifted his gaze towards Hinata for a moment, and as quickly as he glanced at her, his re-directed his focus on the Akatsuki. "Yeah, I'm fine, no worries."

Sakura looked over to Naruto as well. She had been a bit concerned, but she knew better. Something like that definitely wasn't going to fall Naruto. "You sure your alright there, you look pretty beat up, maybe you should let us take this guy down while you sit back on the sidelines" she said teasingly.

Naruto now shifted his glance to Sakura, but let his gaze linger there. He smirked at her and said "You joking, I'm just getting warmed up! I'm definitely going to kick this guys ass!" And with that he gave her one of his trademark fox like grins.

Sakura returned the gesture with a warm smile of her own, before she turned her attention back towards the Akatsuki. "Well your definitely not doing it alone," she said in a more serious manner, "We got a huge numbers advantage on this guy that we're definitely going to use."

On that note, Kakashi stepped into the light conversation. "That guy saw through all your jutsu, and had a counter ready for everything you threw at him in that attack," he said, "this guy definitely isn't normal, we're definitely going to have to be careful, even if it is eight on one."

"Yeah..." Naruto muttered, and with that, once again brought his focus back to the Akatsuki.

Finally, the Akatsuki spoke. "So, little leaf-peoples, how shall I entertain you today?" He asked in a dopey voice.

That only served to piss Naruto off. With that statement, Naruto ground his teeth together and dug his feet into the ground, preparing to make another foray against the cocky member of Akatsuki. Naruto was about to launch himself at him before Yamato put an arm in his way.

"Don't get reckless." He stated before muttering "That's what he wants you to do.. stay calm Naruto." With that said, Yamato walked over in the direction of Kakashi. "You saw the way he countered Naruto's jutsu eh.. if he can do that, it's going to be tough to even get a shot on this guy."

Kakashi looked over towards Yamato and muttered "that ability is something to be worried about alright.. however..." Kakashi paused and shifted his gaze towards the Akatsuki and continued, "How long can he hold up that ability?" Kakashi gave Yamato a side glance, and he nodded to Kakashi, signaling him to continue. Kakashi gave the Akatsuki his full attention before continuing "You noticed that when Naruto went at him with his Rasengan, he went straight through him? With that kind of technique, it doesn't seem like it would hold up for a very long period of time, so maybe if we were to string together multiple successive attacks, we could cancel out that ability of his."

Yamato smiled at Kakashi. "As expected of the great Kakashi-san." Yamato turned towards the other six and said "Alright you guys, we're going to attack this guy in 'Attack Formation D'," he let the information settle in before turning around and finishing, "Don't slack off and stick to your roles."

Naruto, Sakura, Sai, Kiba, Hinata, smiled at these words and nodded in understanding. Shino simply nodded in understanding. All eight of the Leaf Ninja got into their respective fighting stances and made ready to attack the Akatsuki.

"Awwww," The Akatsuki said mockingly, "Do the little leaf peoples want to play games with me?"

Kakashi paid no heed to his words. "Alright team, let's take this joker down." And with those words, the Leaf Ninja began their attack on their enemy. As they reached the branches, a menacing and far more serious voice halted them in their tracks.

"Do you insignificant little pests really think you can take down someone such as me?"

Naruto did a double-take. This same voice came from the same guy who was just mocking them in an utterly annoying dopey voice. Now all of the sudden his voice was serious, and it sent chills down his spine. The rest of his companions seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

The Akatsuki continued "I think, it's time I revealed who I really am.." he paused before continuing, "In this organization, I was known amongst my comrades as Tobi. However, that is not my true identity." Tobi began to unfasten his mask as he spoke. "My true name.. my true identity is..."

With those words, Tobi removed his mask, letting his long, spiky, black hair fall past his shoulders.

Naruto let out a small gasp of surprise, as the first thing he noticed was a pair of all too familiar sharingan eyes.

The man let his mask drop before finishing "Uchiha... Madara."

This shocking revelation stopped the leaf ninja dead in their tracks, and they all retreated back. Naruto only retreated back because everyone else did. He had no idea what the problem was. "Hey hey, why did we retreat?" he asked "That strategy was good, even if he is an Uchiha."

Kakashi gave Naruto a hopeless look. "Naruto.. did you ever pay attention in your academy classes?" Naruto nodded his head no, so Kakashi continued. "This guy isn't just any Uchiha... Madara is one of the founding fathers of Konoha."

Naruto nearly fell over from the information. "What!" He exclaimed, "Then this guys gotta be like... old!"

Kakashi nodded, "Yeah, unnaturally old, it should be impossible, which makes this even more worrisome." Kakashi let everyone soak his words in and continued, "Even if he was of his normal age, he was still an opponent that was stronger than all of us... now... if he's still alive, we're not even in his league."

With those words, the group returned their focus to Madara. The silence was broken by Kiba. "So.. if the situation is this bad, what should we do?"

Kakashi bowed his head before replying, "I'd say our main choice would be to run, but I'm not sure we'd even be able to succeed in doing that..."

The group continued to gaze upon Madara in silence. Madara was just standing there, looking upon the group, as though mocking them saying that they didn't stand a chance. He didn't seem to be in a hurry to make a move on the group. He seemed to be very cocky about the whole situation. Naruto then stepped forward. "If we can't run away from him, then our only option is to give it all we got and fight him!"

Sakura couldn't help but smile at Naruto's resolve. She was ready to wholeheartedly agree with him before Shino muttered "That's not the only option."

The group looked at Shino, stunned by his words. "We could simply leave a few of us behind to hold him off while the rest of us flee here, even if it was only for a couple minutes, it would still be enough for the rest of the group to get away, isn't that right, Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi once again bowed his head and answered "Yeah, I considered that, and it would probably work too.. Madara was never known for his speed, but I couldn't ask any of you to stay here and lay down your lives."

The group turned their attention back towards Madara, just to be sure he didn't make any movements to attack, but he still seemed unconcerned. In fact he looked bored from the proceedings that were taking place in front of him. As the group stood in silence, Naruto stepped forward, as if to volunteer to stay. However, it was Kiba who spoke first, "Hey Naruto..." he muttered, "You know where Sasuke was heading to... right?"

Naruto immediately focused on Kiba, the weight of his words hitting him. "Kiba..."

Kiba smiled. "Well then that settles it, I'm definitely going to stay, you can find Sasuke just fine without me."

With those words, Shino also stepped forward on Kiba's right. "If your staying, then I will also stay and fight. After all, that is what teammates do."

Hinata also stepped forward, on Kiba's left. "Yes.. if your staying, I will also stay and fight, we must stick together."

Naruto was beside himself, he couldn't believe that these three were willing to lay their lives down so willingly. They had so much to live for, and yet here they were standing before him with a small smile plastered on each of their faces. Naruto couldn't let them do this.

"No, you can't do this, I won't let you, there has to be some other way." He pleaded, desperation etched in every syllable.

Kiba smiled. "There is no other way, you guys are needed for the fights later on.. we don't really have much of a roll in what's going on, so what better way is there for us to help your cause? Besides, your to important Naruto, if you stayed and fought, he would simply beat you down and take you to Akatsuki."

Naruto had a retort ready for that. "But you guys..."

"Naruto.."

Naruto looked over to the bearer of that voice. The pink haired kunoichi was looking directly at Naruto, a look of both seriousness and desperation etched in every line of her face. "Let them stay Naruto... you can't die.."

Naruto gazed at Sakura for a moment before bowing his head. "You guys.. I won't forget this, I'm sorry it's going to be this way.."

This time, Shino replied. "The lives of a ninja are perilous, and sometimes death is unavoidable. It's a hard life. We all knew the risks coming in."

Naruto gave Shino a weak smile before replying "I'm still going to leave you some bunshin's to help you out you know, your definitely not talking me out of that."

Hinata smiled at those words before replying "While we don't need it, we appreciate your support Naruto-Kun."

Naruto nodded his head at Hinata, "You guys better catch up later.." and with that, he walked forward in the direction of Uchiha Madara. "Well then, let's get this party started!"

**Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu**

A moment later, 1000 Naruto clones appeared, completely taking up this space in front of Madara, all the while smirking in the direction of Madara.

"Get Ready!" One third of the clones said

"Because we're coming.." The second third of the clones shouted

"To kick your ass!" The final third of the clones finished.

And with that, the clones immediately charged Madara. Madara couldn't help but smile at the kid's audacity. Madara simply dug in, and started to form seals.

**Katon: Funka Inferuno**

With those words, Fire erupted from the ground, and rocketed it's way into the sky, and in the process, taking all of the Naruto clones with it.

Madara stood there triumphantly, and smiled at his handiwork. He simply looked on at the spot where the leaf ninja were standing, waiting for the smoke to clear. However, when the smoke did clear, The Leaf Ninja no longer were there. The smile that had once graced the face of Madara was immediately replaced with a look of disgust, as he looked around to try and find his opponents. It took a few moments before five chakra signal's clicked in his head. Madara looked behind him to see five of the leaf ninja, including the Jinchuuriki, fleeing the area. Madara immediately took off after them.

**Gatsuuga**

Madara had to hold back as a twister like form spiraled in his path, nearly catching him. Madara doubled back to survey his situation. Now, standing in front of him, were the three ninja that he hadn't sensed.

Kiba was perched on the side of a tree trunk, to the bottom left of Madara. He and Akamaru were both in Four-Legged Mode, and Akamaru having been changed into a Kiba clone. Shino stood in front of Madara, bugs now flowing out of his sleeves, ready to attack on his command. Hinata stood above Kiba at level with Madara. She was in her fighting stance, with the veins in her temples going into her eyes, enhancing her vision.

Madara looked past the three Ninjas and at his quarry, the other five ninjas who were running away from the scene. "You guys.. really must have some sort of death wish, staying here to fight me." Madara surveyed the three Konoha Ninja before continuing, "If you truly wish to stay and fight..."

* * *

"...I suppose I could entertain you with some of my time." 

Kiba looked up towards the figure of Madara, getting into his fighting stance. He knew that he and his teammates were in trouble. Hell, chances were, they were most likely going to be killed in this fight. Kiba gulped inwardly at those thoughts, and beside him, he heard Akamaru give a little whimper.

"Don't worry.. Akamaru, we're going to get out of this just fine." He coaxed. Akamaru looked at him, in his Kiba form, with a look of gratefulness.

Kiba looked back up towards Madara, except, Madara had disappeared from his previous location. Kiba looked around in panic, trying to find the enemy...

"Kiba-Kun," Hinata yelled, "above you!"

Kiba looked back, and only caught a glimpse of Madara, with a katana in hand, charging towards his position. Kiba immediately dived to the side to avoid the attack, and was able to do so only by a hair. However, Akamaru wasn't so lucky. In the attack that missed Kiba, he had instead attacked Akamaru. In one swift, fluent motion with his katana, Madara be-headed the Kiba that was really Akamaru, and with that, Akamaru fell down to the rough terrain below.. dead.

"Akamaru!" Kiba yelled, desperation clear in his voice. He looked up towards where Madara was now standing. "Damn you.. DAMN YOU!"

Madara simply stood on the side of the tree, a wicked grin spread wide on his face. "Oops, looks like I got the wrong one." He said, he sure didn't sound like he missed his target though. He then sheathed his katana. "Your the one that volunteered to take me on, right?" He asked Kiba. Kiba merely growled at Madara in response. "For that insubordinance, I'm going to kill you last. I'm going to make you watch as I kill your friends first, and then I will slowly kill you, and before the end, you will be begging me to end your life."

Kiba couldn't take anymore of this guy's words, he immediately leapt from his position and attacked.

**Gatsuuga**

Kiba once again entered his twister like state, and went straight at Madara. Shino had his bugs spread out and prepare to attack. And Hinata jumped from her position and thrust a palm downwards to connect with Madara. Madara simply stood there as the three attacks came hurtling towards him. Finally, when the attacks were inches away from him, he made his moves. As Kiba came to the Uchiha, He simply let him pass through him, like he had done earlier with Naruto's Rasengan. He then moved a bit to the side to avoid Hinata's palm, and as he did so, he formed hand seals.

**Katon: Honoo Shi-Rudo**

Flame instantly protruded from Madara, covering him on all sides, the bugs that Shino had sent to attack were immediately fried. Kiba looked back in dis-belief as his attack failed the same way Naruto's had, except, Madara had once again disappeared from the spot he was previously in.

_Not known for his speed my ass, this guy is fucking fast, I can't keep up with him!_

"Up here, little ninja!"

Kiba turned his body around in mid-air to look up, only to receive a hard boot to the stomach. The blow took Kiba's breath out, and he proceeded to spit a bit of blood out from the impact. Madara kept his foot in his gut as he took Kiba to the ground below with a resounding crash. Kiba lay there for a moment, trying to recover from the blow he had just received, but Madara unsheathed his Katana, and drove it through Kiba's left shoulder blade. "Augh" Kiba screamed out in pain. This didn't stop Madara though. He proceeded to draw out a dagger and two kunai. He drove the dagger through Kiba's other shoulder blade, and he took the two kunai and stuck them through the back of Kiba's hands. He was pinned down to the ground, and bleeding profusely.

"I'm not going to kill you just yet boy.. no, just as I promised, I'm going to make you watch me kill your comrades." Kiba wasn't listening very much though, as he was concentrated on the pain that was driving throughout him.

Madara looked up towards where Shino and Hinata were standing, appalled by his actions. "How dare you mutilate our comrade like that." Shino said in his monotonous tone, "For those actions, we will definitely kill you here and now."

Madara smirked up in Shino's direction. "Strong words, you're a foolish one aren't you," Madara said with malice. Madara brought his hands to his Kunai pouches, and dug into the ground. "Now, with that said, I think I'll kill you first!"

Madara then threw multiple Kunai in the direction of Shino, though being careful to throw the Kunai at the upper right portion of Shino. Shino, seeing where the Kunai were headed, darted down and left towards the ground. Madara smirked in victory, having had Shino dodge to the exact location he wanted him to.

**Katon: Funka Inferuno**

For the second time in a short bit of time, a large mass of fire proceeded to erupt from the ground, only this time, it completely engulfed Shino. Shino fell towards the ground, barely clinging on to life. Madara began to calmly walk towards Shino. However, Before he got to him, he became aware of a presence behind him, and barely ducked a palm strike from Hinata. He turned around to face her, but was greeted with yet another palm, this time directed at his face. Madara ducked the strike and brought his fist to Hinata's face, connecting with her jaw. Hinata reeled back a little, and Madara wasted no time in capitalizing. He immediately produced some wire in his hands..

**Soufuusha Sannotachi**

Wire immediately began to bind Hinata to a tree not far behind her. completely immobilizing any possible way of attacking or defending herself. To make matters worse for her, the wire began to dig deeply into her skin. Madara had basically won the fight by this point. He walked over towards Shino and picked him up by the scruff of his collar, and held him against one of the trees surrounding the area.

"Well now, Looks like the fight is already over.. you three truly failed to entertain me at all," Madara announced to the group before turning his attention back to Shino. "Now, since I said I was going to kill you first..." Madara quickly formed hand seals.

**Doku Kiri**

Madara inhaled, and blew a purple cloud of poison mist in the face of Shino. As the cloud covered him, Shino immediately dropped to the ground, dead.

Kiba was incredibly pissed at this point. "Fuck you, you fucking piece of shit.. you'll get yours one day, assholes like you always do!"

Madara smirked at Kiba's comments and walked by him and replied by giving him a face full of his sandal as he passed. Now, Madara faced Hinata, who was bound helplessly to the tree by his wire. Kiba spat in the direction of him to try and get his attention, "Damn you! Leave her the fuck alone!"

Madara looked back towards Kiba and smiled. "This girl.. she means a lot to you, doesn't she?" He asked. He surveyed Kiba for a few moments before continuing, "Yes.. I can see it in your eyes, your feelings for this girl extend beyond friendship. It will make it all the more pleasing to me when I kill her."

Kiba growled at him, trying to find the strength to get to Madara. The only problem was he had lost too much blood, and was too weak to remove the weapons pinning him to the ground. He could only watch helplessly as Madara turned his attention back towards his Hyuuga teammate. "This wire.. tend to be highly reactive when introduced to flame..." and with those words, Madara began to form handseals.

**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu**

Fire erupted in front of Madara, and proceeded to make it's way along the wire towards Hinata, finally impacting her, and engulfing her in flame. All that could be heard was agonizing screams ensuing from Hinata, and then silence. The flame died to reveal Hinata, slumped over against the wire, unmoving.

Madara strutted towards Hinata to observe his handy work. He lifted her head and observed her for a moment, and then letting it drop, with a satisfied look etched on his face. Kiba only looked on in shock, he was at a loss for words for what had transpired in front of him. Madara now stood over Kiba, observing him, as if wondering how to best kill him off. Kiba didn't care anymore, having watched his best friend and partner Akamaru and his team die in front of him, he wanted to die, he welcomed it. However, Madara removed the Katana from his left shoulder blade and simply looked at Kiba for a few moments before saying, "I... will make your death very slow, and painful." And with those words, Madara drove the Katana through Kiba's stomach and walked away from him.

"You are already suffering from a spectacular amount of blood loss.. I will simply let you lay there and die slowly, unable to do anything about your impending death." And with those words, Madara took off. Kiba, even in his weakened condition, couldn't help but notice that Madara hadn't gone in the direction of the other five.

_Well.. despite our pitiful performance against him, I guess we at least were able to stop him from getting us all.._

Those thoughts brought a somewhat good feeling to him, despite what had transpired, and he drifted off into unconsciousness..

* * *

Naruto jumped from a high tree branch and on to a surface of water. He stopped to take in his surroundings, a look of a confusion on his face. 

"Hey Kakashi Sensei!" He shouted, "there's a lake here, there's not supposed to be a lake here."

Kakashi landed besides him, along with Sakura, Yamato and Sai. "No... there isn't..." Kakashi took in his surroundings and surveyed the scene around him. There were slash marks all over the surrounding trees, and trees that were toppled over, some of them sinking to the bottom of the lake. "However it looks as though a fight took place here, and judging from the new body of water, Hoshigaki Kisame seems to have been one of the ninja here."

Sakura then spoke up. "No doubt, from the looks of this place, one hell of a fight took place, only someone like Kisame would do such damage."

Kakashi nodded and walked forward a bit. "The Uchiha Hideout isn't far from here, but considering there's nobody at this particular location, chances are the same can be said for over there." Kakashi paused before continuing, "Naruto, Sakura, you two stay here, make sure no one comes near the Hideout. Yamato, Sai, and I will go and check the Uchiha Hideout just in case."

Naruto and Sakura both nodded in understanding, and with that, Kakashi, Yamato and Sai took off towards the Hideout.

Naruto and Sakura both watched as the trio took off, and then walked back a little bit from their location. Just as they were both walking, a shark broke the water's surface and leapt right in front of the duo. Naruto nearly fell into the water from the surprise, but was able to get his chakra in control just in time. "Phewww" exclaimed Naruto, getting up from his sitting position, "this was definitely Kisame."

Sakura couldn't suppress a laugh at Naruto for trying to keep it cool. "Hey Naruto, you better watch out," she teased as she walked over to Naruto to give him a hand up, "There's probably wayy more scary things to rip you apart than that around here."

Naruto accepted her hand to pull himself up. "Yeah yeah, very fu.. What the Hell is that!?!?"

Naruto was now looking in a different direction than Sakura, as a look of disgust crossed his face. "Naruto!" screamed Sakura, "Don't you dare try to scare me as well you idiot!"

Naruto waved his hands in front of him as Sakura advanced, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "No no, I'm not kidding Sakura-chan, really!" He pleaded, "Look over there!" Naruto pointed a finger to his right. Sakura looked to where he was pointing, and sure enough, he wasn't kidding around. In that direction, half of a body was slowly floating across the water. Naruto and Sakura both ran over to the body to check up on it. "Hey!" Naruto said, a bit louder than need be, "I know this guy! He was traveling with Sasuke when I saw him earlier."

Sakura didn't remove her gaze from the figure, but only nodded to show that she had heard. She picked up the body and examined it. "It wasn't a sword that did this, but it was one of the sharks. Not only that, but that wasn't how he was killed. It looks like all of the major arteries in his neck were severed."

Naruto withdrew his gaze from Sakura and focused it on the body. "Definitely Kisame's handiwork.." With that said, Naruto walked away from the body.

_That's the last thing I want to be looking at right now. Looks like he was killed very violently. I can't stand looking at something that disfigured... and yet Sakura-chan and Tsunade Baa-chan are always around this kind of stuff._ Naruto looked back to gaze at Sakura, and a warm smile definitely crossed his face. _You've become very strong Sakura-chan... I already knew it when I came back, but I never really understood how much... you're so much stronger than I am in many ways..._ With those thoughts in his mind, he turned his attention back to in front of him. He was walking rather aimlessly when something came into view. _Is that..._

Naruto ran towards the handle he had seen. Sakura noticed that Naruto had started to run, and immediately followed him. "Hey, Naruto!" she yelled, "what did you find this time." Sakura finally caught up to where Naruto was now standing, and now saw what he was looking at. It was the Kubigiri-Houchou.

"This is..." Naruto muttered, as he grasped the handle and ripped it off the tree, "Zabuza's sword..." Naruto swung the sword around a little bit, and brought it to the tree it was stuck on. The sword sliced the tree neatly, and it slid off into the water. "It's.. really light, I thought it would be really heavy with how big it was." He muttered to himself. "Here Sakura-chan! you try it!"

Naruto handed the sword to Sakura, who accepted it, after watching Naruto wield the sword, she was only too sure that she would be able to use it with ease as well. She was mistaken. When Naruto let go of the sword, it immediately dropped into the water. Sakura would've fallen into the water with it had it not been for Naruto coming right back to her side and grabbing the sword.

"What the hell!" Sakura yelled, "You held it up so easily! Why can't I hold it up as well!?!?"

Naruto shrugged at her in response and shortly answered, "I have no idea Sakura-chan, why don't we just ask Kakashi-sensei when he gets back?"

"Fine..." Sakura mumbled, still a bit peeved that she couldn't handle the sword. Naruto and Sakura found a tree and decided to sit there and wait for Kakashi. For the next little while, they simply sat there in silence, deep in their own thoughts, until a small splash that signaled the return of Kakashi, Yamato and Sai roused them from their thoughts.

Sakura was the first to speak up. "Hey Kakashi-sensei! Did you find anything there?"

Kakashi walked over to where Naruto and Sakura were sitting. "Nothing really, it looks like a fight took place there, but besides that, no sign of anyone or anything." Kakashi stated in a bored tone. When he reached the spot in which the two were sitting, he couldn't help but notice the huge object that Naruto was now holding. "Yo Naruto.. where'd you get that piece of hardware?"

Naruto now sported a familiar foxy grin as he jumped down from the overhanging tree branch. "Eh, just found it lying around..."

Sakura once again spoke up. "Kakashi-sensei, we actually wanted to ask you about that." Kakashi turned to her and nodded for her to continue. "When we found the sword, Naruto was able to wield it with ease, yet when he handed it to me.. it nearly dragged me down under, why do you suppose that's the case?"

Kakashi contemplated the question before muttering, "I've only heard rumors, so you can't exactly take what I say as fact.. but they say that when it comes to swords, the swordsmen who originally wield it can choose who they pass it down to. The sword will only perform properly for people that are allowed to wield it." Kakashi now turned his gaze to Naruto, "I can only assume that just before Zabuza died.. he decided to choose Naruto as one of the possible successors."

Naruto's grin only got wider at this statement. "Wowwww, that's awesome!!" He yelled, "So can I keep it!?!?"

Kakashi smiled from behind his mask. "Well if you can wield it that easy, I don't see why not."

Naruto pumped both his fists at the news. "Whoa awesome! Now I get to carry around a big ass sword!" he yelled. With that, he slung the sword on his back and jumped around the area in a joyous mood.

Sakura, Kakashi, and Yamato couldn't help but laugh at the boy's enthusiasm. Sai just looked a bit confused.

After the laughter died down, Kakashi walked forwards a bit in the opposite direction. "Well, since we didn't find anything here, we should probably head back to Konoha.." Kakashi then bowed his head. "I'd like to head back to where we met Madara... but, chances are high that he killed those three... we'll have to make a report to Tsunade."

Kakashi then took off in the direction of Konoha, followed immediately by Yamato and Sai. Sakura was about to follow when she noticed Naruto had not budged. She looked back towards Naruto. He was looking back in the direction in which they had come from. There was a dead silence before Sakura uttered, "Naruto..."

Naruto did not withdraw his gaze, and continued to look in the same direction. "Kiba... Hinata... Shino..." He muttered "You should've been here.. laughing with us just a little while ago." Without warning, Naruto collapsed on to the ground, bringing a fist to connect with the water. Water sprayed in all directions from the impact. "But instead... you've most likely sacrificed yourselves... all because... I was too weak." Naruto then began to sob a little. The feeling that he had failed his friends in such a time hurt him deeply.

Sakura, noticing his state, calmly walked towards Naruto. She crouched down beside him and slung an arm around his shoulders. "Naruto... you're not weak. They chose to stay behind, they chose to lay their lives down, all in an effort to help you achieve your goals." Sakura paused for a moment before continuing, "if you want to avenge them, sitting here and crying over it isn't going to do the job..."

Naruto looked up at Sakura and gave her a warm smile. "Thanks.. Sakura-chan." He said.

Sakura returned the smile and stood up. "Anytime, Naruto." She replied. "Now, let's head back to Konoha and report what happened."

Naruto stood up as well. "Yeah, let's head back home." And with those words, Naruto and Sakura took off after Kakashi, Yamato and Sai, in the direction of Konoha.

* * *

Elsewhere, around the area of a cliff in the area. A hand finally broke free of the rubble that had been containing the person. The man surfaced from the rubble, and finally stood up on his feet. It had been a while since he had stood. The rocks had blanketed him for a long while now, and it ached for him to stand. His long, blond hair that had originally been tied in a ponytail and broken loose, and it was instead ruffled up, going down to about the mid section of his back. 

"Damnit, I've really got to stop blowing myself up, hmmph."

He looked around to try and find his robes. The familiar Akatsuki robes that had covered him before his previous encounter. They were, however nowhere to be found.

"Looks like the explosion caught the robes as well, I'll just have to get a new set, hmmph."

And with those words. A Huge clay bird formed from out of his hand. The man hoped on, and decided to make course for Amegakure.

**

* * *

Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu** - Multiple Shadow Clone Technique 

**Katon: Funka Inferuno - **Fire Element: Inferno Eruption

**Gatsuuga - **Dual Piercing Fang

**Katon: Honoo Shi-Rudo - **Fire Element: Flame Shield

**Soufuusha Sannotachi** - Windmill Triple Blade

**Doku Kiri - **Poison Mist

**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu - **Fire Element: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique

**Author Notes** - That concludes chapter 3, and it also closes off the official prologue. A couple things I want to touch upon here. 1st of all, the fight that I did with Madara vs Kiba, Hinata, and Shino.. I basically wanted to show just how powerful Madara was. He beat all 3 of them without really even trying. I actually thought I could've done that fight a bit better. I thought my fights from Chapter 2 were a lot better than this chapter. However I'll wait and see what you guys have to say about it (Since we're just starting the fic, I doubt I have very many readers). None the less, I think I'll have to improve upon writing my multiple ninja fights. The next thing I want to touch upon is the Kubigiri-Houchou. 1st off, let me say that this is why I knocked off Suigetsu last chapter. I wanted to give the sword to Naruto. 2nd of all. For those of you who love stories where Naruto gets a big ass sword that basically takes over his fighting, too bad. And for those of you who don't like him having the sword at all, too bad to you as well. I'll make my intents with the sword clear here. Naruto is going to have the sword, but it is not going to be his main fighting way. It's simply going to be a small way that's added into the way he will fight. So for you people that like Naruto having a sword that's simply a small part of his fighting, this is the fic for you!! Also, if you haven't figured out who the guy is at the end of the chapter (you really should've figured it out, no offense), I'm not going to tell you. For those who do know, I'm keeping him alive, because I honestly thought he was basically fed to the person who killed him, and I felt that he could be used in a better way. He's not going to play a big roll, but he plays a critical part, in the fact that the fight he will have later (not much of a spoiler, but there you go) set's up certain transitions later on. Now then, next chapter will be my transition chapter. It's pretty much going to be fall out from the events of the prologue. It will take place in Konoha, and it will also serve to set up the beginning of the actual fanfic. I'm looking forward to reading reviews, so until next time.


	4. The Fourths Heir

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**

**Author Notes - **Well, It's time for chapter 4. In this chapter, we will be following Naruto around. This chapter pretty much just contains the fallout from all of the events that have taken place. Also note that Konoha doesn't have any real idea for what happened to Sasuke. Anyways, as I said last chapter, this chapter is pretty much just going to be a "transition" chapter. In other words, you can include it as the end of the prologue, or you can choose to decide that this is where the story starts. When I look at this story, with what I've written so far and what has yet to be written (which is a lot), I think my greatest challenge is going to deal with maintaining the characters personality. I, for 1, find it extremely hard to not accidentally change the way the character acts and behaves. So much, that I sometimes have to force myself to remember to maintain at least a little bit of the character at times. I truly hope that I am able to do so (when I'm trying to keep them in character). Anyways, I can't think of anything else to say at the moment, so, here is the 4th chapter for you all.

_this font is for thoughts_

_this font is for flashbacks_

**this font is for jutsus and techniques**

**this font is for kyuubi**

**

* * *

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Chapter 4: The Fourths Heir 

Naruto jumped from the last tree branch to the ground. He stopped and turned around to see Sakura jumping down right beside him. He flashed her a foxy grin, in which Sakura returned with a smile, and they both turned and walked towards the Konoha Gate, where Kakashi, Yamato, and Sai were waiting for them.

"Well you both certainly took your time in getting here.." Kakashi said, and then a mischievous smile was evident behind his mask, "is there anything that you two might not be telling us about?" He finished, not making any effort to contain his smirk.

Naruto and Sakura both blushed for a moment, even though they had nothing to hide. This did not go un-noticed by Kakashi, and he was about to make a comment about it before Sakura recovered. "You idiot!" She screamed, and before Kakashi could see what was coming, Sakura threw a punch that sent him soaring through the village towards the the mountain which sported the Hokage's faces.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head with his hand and gave a nervous laugh, and tried to walk away from the situation. However Sakura noticed him trying to walk away and stepped in front of him. "Yeah I bet you enjoyed that didn't you!?!?" Sakura shouted. Naruto gave off another nervous laugh, "Of course I didn't!" He pleaded, and then turned to a fake/serious voice, "How dare Kakashi-sensei make those kind of assumptions about us." he declared. Sakura sensed the deception in his voice though, and tried to send him soaring as well, however Naruto saw it coming and dodged the attack and ran into the village, Sakura close behind him.

Yamato and Sai merely watched the events unfold as Naruto and Sakura disappeared in a cloud of dust. Sai opened a notebook of his and jotted down the behavior that Naruto and Sakura had just shown, and made a mental note to try and remember it. Yamato gave a hearty laugh at their antics. "My, my. Yes you can definitely see it in the both of them," he muttered to himself before turning to the gate guards, Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo, "Don't you think?"

Kotetsu looked at him confused. "Don't we think... what?"

Yamato smiled and looked to where Naruto and Sakura had just run off to. "The feelings between those two, it's blatantly obvious, isn't it?

Izumo grinned at Yamato. "Ya, no doubt it's obvious. Everything about them makes it obvious." Kotetsu sported a grin as well. "Those two.. They have changed and grown up so much, yet they still remain the same.."

Yamato didn't remove his gaze from where it was. "As obvious as it is, it's up to the both of them to discover those feelings for themselves.. and I have no doubt that will happen very soon." He muttered.

* * *

Naruto was still running full speed through Konoha, Sakura hot on his heels. He didn't want to imagine what Sakura was going to do to him if she caught up to him. He chanced a glance behind him, only to witness Sakura chucking a fruit cart his way. Naruto jumped the cart and took the chase to the rooftops, and quickly made his way towards the Hokage tower. When Naruto came within jumping distance of the Tower, he made a dive for it. He was banking on the fact that Tsunade might be able to call off Sakura. However when he dived in, his chances instantly decreased, as he accidentally took out Shizune, Tsunade's assistant, on the way in. 

Naruto let out a groan and tried to sit up, only to look at the face of Sakura, who was currently sporting an evil grin. "Now, I got you Naruto!" And with that she raised a fist to send Naruto soaring out of the tower.

Then a depressed voice uttered, "Naruto.. Sakura.. I don't need this right now.."

Sakura instantly halted her fist and looked in the direction of Tsunade, as did Naruto. Tsunade was sitting at her desk with her head bowed. "Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asked, "You seem troubled.. what happened?"

Tsunade looked up from her desk to face Sakura and Naruto. "Jiraiya.. almost died.."

Naruto immediately stood up and went towards Tsunade. "Ero Sennin almost died!?!?" He asked, "But he's like, one of the most powerful ninja in the world, isn't he!?!?"

Tsunade stood up as well. "Yes, there's no doubt that Jiraiya is one of the strongest ninja there is right now.. however..." she paused before continuing, "Jiraiya went to Amegakure, because he had received word that Akatsuki's leader was situated there. It appears that the word was true.. Jiraiya faced off in a fight against him, and from what he tells me, he was extremely lucky to get out of there alive."

When Tsunade finished, Naruto had to ask another question that was bothering him since Tsunade had broke this news to him. "So.. if he almost died, how bad of condition is he in right now?"

Tsunade immediately gave him the details. "Well, for one, he lost his left arm, and he was bleeding profusely, even after bandaging himself up to try and stop the blood flow.. He also had a very serious wound going straight through his right shoulder.. not only that, but his chakra was extremely low.. if he had got here five minutes later, I wouldn't have been able to heal him. However, as we speak, Jiraiya is doing just fine right now, he's just recovering from the wound in his shoulder. It was infected when he got here, so it should take about a week for him to heal up completely.

Naruto soaked in the information before he muttered, "Ero-Sennin... lost an arm!?!? That's going to be hard to get used to.."

Tsunade then let a small smile grace her face. "Well, I suppose that's where I can finally give you some good news," she said, "I was able to replace his arm. It's a new medical technique I had been working on during my spare time while training Sakura. I now have the ability to replicate a person's limbs and perform an operation to replace the missing limb."

Naruto looked at her with his mouth hanging open. "Wowww, that's amazing!" He exclaimed, "No wonder your renowned as the best medical ninja there is!"

Tsunade let a grin spread wide on her as she walked up to Naruto and punched him on the top of his head. "Damn rights Naruto!" She exclaimed, "and don't you forget it!"

Naruto let out a groan, "I don't think I deserved that..." He muttered from the ground.

At that moment, two ANBU appeared in the Hokages office. Tsunade looked at them with a questioning look etched on her face, as did Naruto, Sakura, and Shizune. Tsunade walked behind her desk to sit down. "What are you two doing here, I never summoned for ANBU?"

The two ANBU ninja bowed to Tsunade before one began. "Sorry for the intrusion, Hokage-sama.."

The other ANBU continued from where he left off. "However, one of our ANBU patrols found Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata out in the forests. Their in critical condition as it is.."

The first ANBU continued the briefing. "It's amazing that they are even alive right now, the injuries they've suffered.. it's also highly doubtful they'll live as it is. You need to get to the hospital immediately to operate on them, it's the only chance they've got.

Tsunade immediately rose from her chair and grab her Green Jacket. "Sakura, Shizune, come with me, they're going to need all the help we can give them!" she ordered.

Sakura and Shizune both nodded, "Yes, Tsunade-Sama." With those words, the two of them took off out of the Hokage Tower. Tsunade prepared to jump out of the window to follow them before turning to face Naruto one more time. "Oh.. and Naruto?" Naruto looked at her questioningly, urging her to continue. "Come to the Hokage Tower later tonight.. you, Jiraiya, and myself have some things we need to discuss.." With those words, Tsunade followed Sakura and Shizune to the hospital.

Naruto was prepared to follow them as well, as he wanted to wait on Kiba and Hinata's condition, however a question popped up in his head. He turned to the ANBU, "Hey you guys, you said you found Hinata and Kiba, but.. what about Shino, and Kiba's dog Akamaru?"

One of the ANBU simply bowed and nodded his head, and left the building. The other one answered Naruto. "Aburame Shino and Akamaru were already confirmed to be dead when we arrived on scene.. I'm sorry for your loss." And with those words, the other ANBU ninja followed his comrade.

Naruto simply stood on the spot for minutes on end. The information of Shino and Akamaru's death's hit him hard. He had never really known Shino, hell, he never even recognized him when he had got back from the Sand Village, but that didn't stop him from feeling horrible. He still considered Shino to be a good friend, no matter how distant and un-sociable he seemed to be. He had always found Akamaru to be a very nice dog, despite trying to rip him apart in the chuunin exams two and a half years ago to this day. It had amazed him how much Akamaru had grown over the three years he had been gone. But now, both Shino and Akamaru were gone.. Naruto felt guilt fill up in his stomach.

_If only I had been stronger... I might've been able to prevent this... but they're gone now.. And here I'm feeling bad about this. I can only imagine how down Kiba and Hinata are going to feel if.. no.. when they wake up, especially Kiba.. I feel like, I've failed them.._

Naruto finally awoke from his thoughts when Kurenai walked through the door. Naruto looked up at her, and even more guilt seemed to fill up inside of him. Kurenai, however broke the silence. "Naruto, your back," she stated, "That must mean that my team is back as well, where are they?" She looked at Naruto for an answer, but Naruto was only looking at her with a very sad looking face. "Naruto.. what happened?"

Naruto turned around, he couldn't bear to look her in the face. "Shino and Akamaru... are dead," he explained, "And Kiba and Hinata are in the hospital right now... we don't know if they're going to make it..."

Kurenai couldn't believe the words she was hearing. She had just recently lost Asuma, her husband, to Akatsuki, and now she already lost one of her students, no, two of her students. And she might lose the other two as well. The team had really grown on her, and now she just might end up losing them as well. She all of the sudden fell to her knees and began to cry.

Naruto turned around in shock. He knew that this would hurt her, but he had always figured her to be one of those women who never showed their tears. Yet here she was bawling her eyes out in front of him. Naruto poised himself up and walked up to her, and kneeled in front of her. "Kurenai-sensei.. there's no need to worry about Kiba and Hinata, they're going to be fine, just you wait and see!" He exclaimed, "Besides, Tsunade Baa-chan is on the job, and she's the greatest medical ninja of all time!"

Kurenai looked up at the face of Naruto. Naruto now sported a foxy grin on his face. Kurenai couldn't help but smile. Something about the way the kid was, just made her so sure.. so sure that everything was going to be alright. "Thank you.. Naruto." She mumbled.

Naruto quickly replied. "Anytime! Now let's get over to the hospital, Tsunade Baa-chan, Shizune-san, and Sakura-chan are going to need our support." With those words, Naruto stood up and extended a hand to Kurenai. Kurenai accepted the hand, and they both walked to the hospital.

* * *

"Excuse me nurse," Naruto asked, "Could you tell us where we can find Kiba and Hinata?" 

The nurse behind the desk turned around from the files she was looking at and answered. "They're both on the third floor, in the operation rooms." She stated, "You can't visit them right now, obviously, but you can wait outside for the operations to finish.

Naruto flashed a foxy grin her way. "Ah, ok then, thanks for the info." Naruto then turned away and he and Kurenai walked towards the stairs. But then Naruto suddenly turned around. "Oh yeah, where can I find Jiraiya?"

The nurse looked towards him again and said. "He's on the second floor right now, in the recovery wards. Room 221 to be exact. You can visit him right now if you like."

Naruto then replied, "Alright then, thank you nurse." And then walked up the stairs. On the second landing he stopped. Kurenai was still walking up until she noticed Naruto had stopped. She turned around and gave him a questioning look. Naruto immediately explained himself. "You go on ahead to wait for Kiba and Hinata, I'm going to go see Ero-Sennin for a little while, I'll catch up soon." Naruto then flashed a grin and walked down the hall. Kurenai returned the smile when he had left and continued on her way.

Naruto walked down the hall counting down the numbers. "217...218...219...220...221! Ah, here we are." Naruto opened the door and half expected to see Jiraiya laying down on the bed, but he wasn't there, and what he was actually doing didn't surprise him.

"Mmmmm... Data gathering, Data gathering" Jiraiya mumbled in a dopey voice, "Ahhh, the ladies of Konoha are so nicee ha haa."

Naruto felt as though a vein was threatening to burst. He walked over behind Jiraiya and picked his telescope from his hands, and proceeded to smack him upside the head with it, which knocked Jiraiya flat to the ground.

"Bah, up to your perverted ways again are we?" questioned Naruto, "You know looking at you, I'd definitely say your fully recovered, don't you agree?"

Jiraiya continued to lay on the floor as he whined, "Ohh, the pain, it hurts, I need a doctor!"

Naruto struck him on the head again. "Yah fricken right Ero-Sennin, keep this up, and I'll make it so you need a doctor again!"

Jiraiya sprang up and moved his face right in front of Naruto's. "I was doing very tough research, yes, yes, it has to be done. Very tiring, but someone has to do it!"

Naruto moved his face even closer, if that was possible. "No one has to do perverted research like that Ero-Sennin."

Jiraiya backed off, but continued to yell. "You just don't understand the art and beauty that is my best selling books of the Icha Icha book series."

Naruto crossed his arms and turned his head to the side. "I don't see how anyone in their right mind could like perverted and boring books like that." Then Naruto turned to Jiraiya again. "However, I didn't come here for that.." Jiraiya gave Naruto a questioning look, signaling for him to continue. "I heard you had quite the fight, hell, I heard that you were nearly killed.. what happened?"

Jiraiya smiled and walked towards the bed in the room, and sat down. Naruto grabbed a chair and brought it to the bedside. "So, Tsunade told you eh?" Jiraiya asked. Naruto nodded in response to his question. Jiraiya turned away from Naruto and turned his attention to the sky outside the hospital room window. "Well, most likely she's only told you the basic details.." Jiraiya paused, thinking of how to best word himself. "Well, as you most likely know already, I had heard from my sources the location of Akatsuki's leader. Tsunade wanted to prepare an all out assault on the village, but I didn't think it was the best idea. So, I offered to infiltrate Amegakure myself. She didn't take to it to well, but she eventually agreed. I got in rather easier than usual, and got a bit of info out of one of the lower rank ninja. Then I used him to get inside the Akatsuki tower.. I had a quick run in with an old student.."

"Wait!" Naruto said, louder than need be, "Another student. I only ever knew of three students that you had, and that was the team of the fourth Hokage. The other two died, and the fourth is dead.."

Jiraiya raised a hand to stop Naruto. "That is another story for another time, but right now I'm just briefing you on what happened." With that, Naruto sat down and nodded for the Sannin to continue. "Well anyways, she went down rather easy, because I had the perfect counter to her style, but then.. he came. We fought with summons at first, but that ended when I entered my strongest form.. which you'll most likely see someday, so I'm not going to go into it. Then he summoned two more of himself, except these weren't clones, they were the real thing. We fought, and I was getting dominated. Finally, I was able to even the odds by using a genjutsu."

"Whoa whoa!" Naruto exclaimed, "Genjutsu? I had no idea you were even able to use Genjutsu!"

Jiraiya then continued. "The form I entered allowed me to have access to a certain Genjutsu, you see, this mode I enter also requires for me to summon two Toad Sages. They have the Genjutsu ability, not me. Anyways, I caught the three of them in the Genjutsu, and proceeded to kill them. I thought it was over.. but then I was thrown out of the building, losing my left arm in the process. And I looked up to now see six of them. They attacked me. I was once again getting dominated, so I set up a barrier to try and trap one. I eventually ended up getting one, but he stabbed me in the shoulder with a weird chakra blade. I was extremely weakened by then... after that, the toad sages insisted that the sacrifice themselves for me to flee the battle. I didn't like it, but they wouldn't let me argue.. They sacrificed themselves, and I got away... I suppose I brought one of the bodies here for study, to find out what this guy's all about, but to me, I failed.. I ran, and I left the two toad sages to die for me to get back here, and warn everyone.."

Naruto then stood up. "Don't feel too bad about it Ero-Sennin, It sounds like they died for a truly noble cause.. they died a death befitting of them, a death befitting of a shinobi."

Jiraiya could only smile at Naruto. He then leaned over and ruffled Naruto's hair. "Thanks kid, I may not say it much, but you truly help me out a lot, and you bring out the best of me, as well as pretty much everyone around you. I'm very proud of you Naruto."

Naruto gave Jiraiya a warm smile. "Thanks.. Ero-Sennin.." Then, Naruto remembered something. "Oh yeah, when we were out looking for Sasuke, we ran into someone." Jiraiya looked at Naruto quizzically, "We ran into... Uchiha... Madara.

Jiraiya gave a little flinch at that name. "So.. looks like that bad feeling I had was true.." Naruto looked at Jiraiya with an astounded look etched on his face. "I had heard rumors, whispers about Madara still being alive, and it looks to be true. This also answers my other theory." Jiraiya looked directly at Naruto. "Madara was the one behind the Kyuubi attack, he sent the Kyuubi on Konoha."

Naruto was extremely shocked to hear this, "But.. but it's always been said that the Kyuubi was a natural disaster, that befell villages every fifteen years! Besides, no one could have the power to summon something like that.

Jiraiya nodded his head. "No.. there was one person who was powerful enough to summon the Kyuubi.. and that was Uchiha Madara." Naruto had his mouth hanging open by now. "Yes Naruto, it's true, as hard as it is to believe, he was that powerful. As to how powerful he is now, I have absolutely no idea."

Naruto bowed his head and clenched his fists. "Damn.. then I really have to kick that guys ass!" He exclaimed. "He basically made my life out to be the way it is. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have this fucking thing inside of me!"

Jiraiya's face fell, but decided not to pursue the topic. "So, I assume since you've seen Tsunade, she's already told you to go to the Hokage Tower later?"

Naruto nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, but why not do it here, since all three of us are here now, we could do it when she's done with the operations!"

Jiraiya nodded his head in the negative. "No.. what we have to discuss is private, and only us three can know about it right now, no one else. However, I'm tired right now, and I want to get some shut eye. So, we'll see you later tonight, alright Naruto?"

Naruto got off his chair and walked towards the door. "Your not going to sleep, your just going to go back to peeping on girls!"

Jiraiya instantly retorted, "I will not! I'm old, and I'm tired damnit, I want to sleep!" He yelled, "But that's off the point, will you be there tonight, it's extremely important?"

Naruto nodded his head, "Yeah, I'll be there.." And with that he closed the door, but not without noticing Jiraiya pull out his peeping telescope and scuttle towards the window.

* * *

Naruto opened the door to the third floor corridor and walked towards the operation rooms. When he turned the corner to the main operation room, he could see Sakura, Shizune, Kakashi, and Kurenai all sitting on the benches, waiting for Tsunade to finish her operation. 

"Hey Sakura-chan," Naruto exclaimed, "why are you sitting out here, I thought Tsunade wanted you to help her? Or is it that Tsunade thought your skills weren't up to par," Naruto teased.

Sakura glared daggers into the eyes of Naruto, and Naruto cringed under the glare. "Shizune and I are already done for now. We were working on Hinata before you came here, and we've done all we can do for today."

Naruto chose a spot beside Sakura and leaned back. "So.. how is Hinata doing?" he asked.

Sakura bowed her head and looked towards the ground. "Well, she's doing better than she was, that's for sure," she exclaimed, "When we started out with her I would've given her twenty-five percent odds of surviving. Shizune and myself were able to up them to fifty."

Naruto glanced over at Sakura from his position. "How bad was her condition when you started then..?"

Sakura lifted her gaze to meet Naruto. "Looking at her, was amazingly hard.. She had suffered second degree burns all over her body, she looked completely different from the Hinata we've grown up used to seeing.. not only that... but she had tons of wire cuts along her body as well.. it was... horrible." she said, "This was one of the worst, yet one of the best moments of my medic nin career.. the fact that I help her a little bit makes me feel a bit better.. but.. just looking at her condition, it was like I wasn't even operating on Hinata..."

With that explanation, Naruto could only imagine what it must've been like having to perform that operation. He was then shaken back to reality when he heard a sniffle. He looked down to see Sakura wiping away tears fervently from her emerald like eyes. _This must've been hard for her.. Having to operate on an old friend like that. From the way she describes it, I could only imagine what she would look like.. and yet she went in there and performed the operation.. yet another reason why she is really strong._ With those thoughts, Naruto put an arm around Sakura. "Sakura-chan..."He muttered, "You did a good job in there. I'm not sure exactly what you did, but if you increased her chances of survival, you definitely did a great job.. Sakura-chan, your one hell of a medic nin."

Sakura looked up to meet Naruto's sapphire like eyes. Naruto immediately let a foxy grin snake on to his face in response. "Naruto.. thank you again, for being there, like you always are." A warm smile then spread across her face. They lost themselves in the others eyes for a few minutes, but seemed to feel like hours, until they heard a small, but loud cough. They both looked towards Kakashi, who was looking at them with a look of mild interest. Naruto and Sakura quickly turned away from each other, with blushes as red as Chouji's hair gracing there faces. It was in that moment in which Tsunade stepped out of her operation room.

The group waiting for Tsunade looked at her as she wiped her brow and looked up. Her face looked rather indifferent, and it was hard to make any judgment on whether she had good or bad news. She looked up at the group before uttering. "Well, his chances have gone up.."

The group gave a small sigh of relief, but sensed that Tsunade had more to say. They continued to look at her, urging her to break the news. "I'd give him about a thirty percent chance to live now.. I've done all I can do for today though.." As she walked past she continued. "He had several major arteries cut up or punctured. He had multiple stab wounds, as well as a very low amount of blood. He was just an absolute mess when I first saw him.. at least now I've got his blood flow going again.." Naruto stood up and opened his mouth to say something, but Tsunade interrupted him. "Naruto.. I expect to see you at the tower at 9pm tonight, now.. I'm tired, so I'm going back now.. I'd rather not be disturbed." And with those words, Tsunade kept walking towards the tower.

Sakura was the first to speak when she had left. "I've.. never seen her in such a depressed state after an operation.. I've seen her feel down, but never that bad... Kiba must've really been messed up."

Kakashi looked back at the door before speaking. "Yeah.. This whole situation just makes me feel worse about the mission, I'm going to go home for the night." And with those words, Kakashi disappeared.

Naruto looked back at Kurenai, she was still sitting in the spot she was in, she hadn't moved an inch since Tsunade had come out. "Hey Kurenai.. what are you going to do?"

Kurenai looked up and smiled at Naruto. "I'm just going to stay here, I'd rather be close to my team in a time like this.. we'll see you two later."

Naruto waved and walked down the corridor along with Sakura. "So.. do you want to go get some ramen or something?"

Sakura looked over at Naruto and smiled. "Thanks, but not right now, I think I'm going to go home.. today was a hard day," she said as Naruto and herself walked away from the hospital, "so I guess I'll see you later.. Naruto." And she ran off home while looking back and waving at Naruto.

Naruto simply waved back and continued to walk the streets of Konoha. "Well, I guess I'll go get some ramen, then go catch a nap before meeting Ero-Sennin and Tsunade Baa-chan at the tower."

Naruto made his way to the Ichiraku Ramen and sat down. "Hey there old man." He exclaimed, announcing his entrance to the stand.

Teuchi turned around and smiled. "Oh, if it isn't Naruto, our number one customer, what can I get you today?"

Naruto smiled and pulled out a free ramen pass. "I'll get one Miso Ramen please, with extra everything!"

Teuchi smiled, took the free pass, and began to cook the ramen. However, he couldn't help but notice that Naruto was hiding a downcast look. "Oi, Naruto.. something bad happen with you recently?"

Naruto bowed his head down. "Yeah.. just had a bit of a tough mission is all.."

Teuchi, not taking his eyes off his work, continued the conversation. "So, what exactly happened in this mission?"

Well, we met some really strong ninja.. One of us died for sure, along with a friends dog.. And two are currently in the hospital.. they're in really bad shape. We also didn't find Sasuke.. so all in all, this mission sucked!"

Teuchi contemplated what to say before replying. "So, are you going to be going to train later today, to get stronger, and to avenge your friends death?"

Naruto quickly replied, "Yeah.. but not today.. I have some business to take care of. I will be training all out tomorrow though." He said flashing Teuchi a foxy grin.

Teuchi had just finished preparing Naruto's Ramen, so he turned around and placed it in front of Naruto. "Well, come on by tomorrow before you go, I'll give you a free Miso Ramen on the house." He exclaimed.

Naruto finally raised his head and smiled at Teuchi. "Thanks old man... and now.." He replied, while picking up his chop sticks, "time to dig in! Itadakimasu!" And with that, Naruto dug into the ramen.

* * *

Naruto now found himself walking up the stairs to the top of the Hokage tower. 

It was now about 8:55 at night, and Naruto wanted to make sure he wasn't late to the meeting. Jiraiya and Tsunade had sounded very serious about this, so he wanted to do his best to make sure Tsunade wasn't in a bad mood.

_Though, she probably already is in a bad mood, with everything that's happened today.. Ero-sennin nearly died.. Then there's Kiba.. Hinata.. Shino.. and Akamaru. Yeah.. it's sure been a long day today._

Naruto knocked on the the door to Tsunade's office, and walked in. Tsunade was already inside, but she had moved her desk to the side, and had placed a round table in the center of the room and was currently placing chairs around the table. "Oh, hey Naruto, your a bit early, so just pick out a chair and make yourself comfortable." Naruto chose the closest chair to him and leaned back in it.

"Tsunade Baa-chan?" Tsunade cringed at the name before looking towards him to continue, "What's the table and chairs for, couldn't we have done this with your normal office?"

Tsunade turned around and continued to set up the room. "Yeah, we could've, but this might take a while."

Before Tsunade could continue, a huge puff of smoke appeared outside of the balcony window, and with that puff of smoke came Jiraiya, riding one of his summons. He jumped off the frog and dispelled the summon before walking in and saying "Hey Tsunade, Naruto. Sorry I'm late, I just woke up a bit late from my nap I was having earlier." He followed this statement with somewhat of a dopey giggle. Naruto and Tsunade both glared at him, knowing what he was really up to. "Well enough about me," Jiraiya exclaimed, taking the heat off of him, "Looks like you're ready for this, eh Tsunade?"

Tsunade was now at her desk pulling out a deck of cards. "Yeah, I thought that this might take a while, so I thought we may as well enjoy ourselves somewhat while we discuss what needs to be said." Tsunade turned her direction to Naruto. "I assume you know how to play Hold-em?"

Naruto nodded his head. "Yeah, Jiraiya and I played quite a bit during the night while we were on the road training."

"Alright then!" Tsunade shouted, "Then bring out your cash and let's play!!... while we discuss the issues at hand."

Naruto dug around in his pocket for his Gama-chan. He brought it out and counted his money. "Well, I left most of my money at home.. but I have about.. 2063 yen with me."

Tsunade brought out her own money. "We'll play on equal terms then, I'll put out that much as well. You do the same, Jiraiya!"

Jiraiya had already dug into his pocket and tossed 2063 yen on the table. Tsunade collected the yen and put it into a box. She then brought out some playing chips and dolled them out equally. She then grabbed the cards and sat down in one of the chairs, while Jiraiya collapsed in the other.

While Tsunade was dealing out the cards, Naruto started the conversation. "So.. what did you two want to discuss with me? You made this whole thing tonight sound very important, yet here we are playing poker." With that, Naruto merely called the big blind.

Tsunade had finished dealing out the cards, and the three of them each picked up their respective hands. "It is.. very important," muttered Jiraiya, "it's something that you need to know, it's been kept from you to long.." Jiraiya placed a small bet out on the table before continuing, "It has to do with your family."

Naruto bowed his head to look at his card while letting a small smile grace his face. "I see.. I've always wondered about my family.. All I ever knew was that my parents and family were all dead, I was never told anymore than that." Naruto watched as Tsunade folded her hand. Naruto was holding a pretty good looking hand. Naruto merely called Jiraiyas raise since he was out of position, and they went to the flop. Naruto got a good flop out of it and immediately betted it.

"Well," Tsunade said, "a while back, about sixteen years ago now.. the village was undergoing a rebuilding stage, as the wars had just ended. The Hokage was, as you know, The Yondaime. Then, one day, the natural disaster known as the Kyuubi attacked the village of Konoha.

"Wait.." Naruto exclaimed, "Your basically just repeating the story of how the Kyuubi got sealed within me. What does this have to do with my family?"

Jiraiya then spoke up. "There is a point to re-telling this story, so just listen up." Jiraiya then folded his hand, giving Naruto the pot.

"Fine fine fine," Naruto said, louder than need be, while gathering up his winnings, " go ahead Tsunade Baa-chan."

Tsunade gave a small cringe, but continued anyways. "Well, the Kyuubi was far to powerful for any living person, and the Yondaime knew that it couldn't be defeated by might alone, so he and the council decided upon a plan, a way to seal the Kyuubi within a new-born child." Naruto had just finished dealing the cards out. Jiraiya quickly folded, and Tsunade made a big raise. Naruto had a crappy hand, so he immediately folded it, giving Tsunade the small pot.

Jiraiya shuffled the cards while Tsunade stacked her chips. Jiraiya continued where she left off. "Well anyways, the Kyuubi came, and the shinobi of Konoha fought the tailed beast, all in the hopes of giving the Yondaime enough time to set up the technique to seal the Kyuubi." Jiraiya then dealt out the cards. Tsunade once again raised the pot. "Eventually, when many shinobi had already died holding off the Kyuubi, The Yondaime had finally set up the technique, and he went out to face off against the Kyuubi." Naruto folded his hand, as it was once again crap. Jiraiya re-raised Tsunade, and Tsunade simply called. "The Yondaime, fighting on top of Gamabunta, fought with the Kyuubi, attempting to somewhat wear it down to make the technique easier." Jiraiya and Tsunade both checked the flop, and when the turn came Jiraiya doled out a huge raise. "Eventually, when the Yondaime had worn it down enough, he performed two techniques, which are known as the **Hakke no Fuuin Skiki **and the **Shishou Fuuin**. The plan was a success.." Tsunade folded her hand giving Jiraiya the pot. Jiraiya then finished the story while gathering his chips. "The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi.. within his own son."

When Naruto heard this, he fell back in his chair, and the chair tipped back with Naruto in it. "What!!" Naruto yelled, while standing his chair up again and sitting down, "so... that means.."

Jiraiya nodded and continued. "Yes, this means exactly as you have just heard. You are the son of Namikaze Minato, otherwise known as the Yondaime. You are the son of the Fourth Hokage."

Naruto just sat there for a few moments, contemplating what he had heard. He had never known who his parents were, and now he was being told that he was the son of the Fourth. He was snapped out of his thoughts by Tsunade. "Hey Naruto, it's your move.."

Naruto quickly picked up his cards, and folded another crappy hand. Tsunade had folded as well, giving Jiraiya the pot. "But, if I'm the son of the Fourth, why is my name Uzumaki, and not Namikaze?"

Tsunade quickly answered that question while handing the cards to Naruto. "Your mother, went by the name of Uzumaki Kushina, from the Country of Whirl," she stated, "She was actually one hell of a ninja. You remind me a lot of your mother personality wise. She was loud, but very determined. The way you fight reminds me a lot of both her and Minato."

Naruto dealt the cards and the three of them looked at their respective hands. Naruto had picked up pocket aces. He raised the pot a hefty sum before saying "I see.." He smiled at the thought of his parents before asking, "That still doesn't answer the question about my name."

Jiraiya answered it for him. "Minato was considered to be a very powerful ninja, so him having an offspring would be seen as a threat to other countries. So, for your safety, we christened you with your mother's name." Jiraiya then folded his hand.

A smile crossed Tsunade's face before saying "Did you know, that your name 'Naruto,' actually came from a book of Jiraiya's?"

Naruto jumped up at that statement. "What!! You mean my name is from one of HIS perverted novels!?!?"

Jiraiya waved his hands in front of him before replying, "No no no, not from one of my Icha Icha books, but.." Jiraiya then dug into his pocket for something, while Tsunade called Naruto's raise. As Naruto laid the flop down on the table, Jiraiya tossed him a book. "I used to write adventure type books, give it a read when you have the time, you just might like it."

Naruto eyed the book suspiciously before sliding it into his pocket. "So, there must be more of a reason for telling me all of this besides talking about old times." Naruto immediately raised the flop, and Tsunade folded her hand.

Jiraiya was now dealing out the cards. Tsunade, however, was the one who answered him. "Yeah, there is. We knew we were eventually going to have to tell you this, but we never thought it would be so soon.." Jiraiya folded his hand, and Tsunade merely called Naruto's big blind.

Jiraiya then continued. "However.. the circumstances with Akatsuki have called for it. With the guy that I faced, and with what you and Tsunade are telling me about Madara."

Naruto checked his hand and Jiraiya laid down the flop. "Well," Naruto exclaimed, "What will this information do.. it's not like Madara is going to run away from me when he hears I'm the Fourth's son."

Jiraiya laughed at him as Tsunade made a small bet. "No no no, definitely not... no, there's something that Minato and Kushina left behind for when we told you this."

Naruto called Tsunade's raise and Jiraiya laid down the turn card. "So.. what is it that they left for me?" asked Naruto.

Tsunade once again made a small bet. Naruto had hit a lucky card, and merely called, trapping Tsunade in the hand. Jiraiya then laid down the river. Tsunade made another small bet, and Naruto re-raised her. Tsunade called his raise and they laid down their cards. Naruto had the better hand, so he took down the pot, and a big lead in the process. You could now see a vein throbbing in the upper right portion of Tsunade's skull as she took the cards to shuffle.

Jiraiya then tossed Naruto an envelope and a small scroll. He then stood up and summoned a huge scroll into the room and also gave that to Naruto. "He asked us to give you these. The letter is something that he and Kushina wrote for you to read when we gave you these."

Naruto picked up the envelope, and open the seal on it. He picked out the letter and began to read it to himself.

_**Dear Naruto**_

_**If you are reading this, you already know that we are dead, and that we have died protecting Konoha, and your future. You also know that we are your parents, and that it was I, your own father, that sealed the Kyuubi inside of you. The only reason I can give you for this is because you were the only one capable of handling the chakra of the Kyuubi. You should also know, that as the Hokage, it is his/her duty to do everything in his/her power to protect the village. I also believe, that with the seals I have put on, that the Kyuubi would give you power that you could draw on at anytime. I have asked the villagers to treat you as one of them, as an equal, and to look at you as a hero to this village instead of a burden. I can only hope that this is the case. As our child, I can only assume that you are brave, headstrong, loyal, and strong. That is how I find your mother to be, and I can only assume that she has past on these traits. She says that I possess these same traits, but I'm not sure of that myself. Even if I do have these traits, I don't think it's to the degree of your mother.**_

_**Along with this letter, we have also left behind two scrolls. One of the scrolls has the techniques that your mother knew, and the other scroll contains the techniques that I knew. In my scroll, I also left behind a more effective way to train to get stronger. This training method has only been used once, by myself, and it did wonders for me. I hope that this way of training will work the same way for you. You should only have to use it for three months. Use this training to protect those dearest to you, and also to attain your dreams. Your mother and I wish you the best in all of your endeavors, and may you become a great ninja that the world will speak of for many generations to come**_

_**With lots of Love**_

_**Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina**_

Naruto read the end of the letter, and let a wide smile spread across his face. He then turned his attention to Jiraiya and Tsunade. "Thank you.. for giving me this, it means a lot to me."

Jiraiya and Tsunade both smiled. "Don't thank us," said Tsunade.

"Yeah," continued Jiraiya, "Thank your parents for this, wherever they may be."

Naruto folded his cards without even looking at them. "So, these scrolls then.. this is why you told me right now.. you wanted me to train from these scrolls?"

Jiraiya smiled at Naruto. He checked his big blind before replying, "Yeah, that's exactly what we want you to do. There is only one person in Konoha that can attain the type of power that The Fourth controlled... and that's you, Naruto." However, we also noticed that you were lugging around a big ass sword earlier in the day, I don't believe the scrolls have any Kenjutsu techniques, but if you can get trained up in that as well, it will only add to your style.

Naruto smiled as Tsunade laid down the flop. "I definitely won't let you guys down, I'll get super strong and kick Akatsuki's ass for all of you, and then, I will become Hokage!"

Jiraiya simply smiled at these comments, while Tsunade said, "Damn rights you will kid, I have our forces patrolling the border's very strictly now, and they will be doing so for three months, we won't be letting anybody in here, so you better train extremely hard during that time!"

Naruto looked at Tsunade in surprise. "That's exactly how long the letter said I would need.. how do you.."

Jiraiya then interrupted him. "Remember, Naruto, I was his teacher. I know pretty much everything he did to attain the power he had, so I had a general idea of how long you'd be needing."

Naruto looked at Jiraiya and smiled, and then looked at what was happening in the game. Jiraiya had just folded his hand, giving Tsunade the pot. Naruto picked up the cards and began to shuffle.

"You do realize," Jiraiya suddenly said, "That with giving you your name, Minato and Kushina also made me your godfather?"

Naruto looked up from his shuffling and smirked. "Yeah, I kinda got that feeling, however, don't get any ideas about me calling you 'Dad' or something Ero-Sennin."

Then all three of the shinobi in that room broke into laughter at that comment. They continued to play into the night, discussing many different things. The game ended in a showdown with Tsunade and Naruto. Naruto had a Queen/Jack suited spades, and Tsunade had pocket aces. The flop had come up Ace of Spades, Ace of clubs, and nine of Spades. Naruto pushed all in, and Tsunade had called, putting her all in. The turn came up eight of spades, and the river came up ten of spades, giving Naruto a runner/runner straight flush, and the pot to boot. Tsunade was beyond livid that Naruto had lucked out on her. Naruto made a comment about her being the legendary sucker, which only served to piss off Tsunade even more. Jiraiya was still in the game, but before he and Naruto could start, Tsunade smashed in the table and went on a dangerous rant. Naruto and Jiraiya quickly got out of the tower, quickly saying good-bye and taking the scrolls, and their winnings, splitting it as they went. Naruto walked home with a big smile on his face, despite everything that had happened. He was definitely stoked to wake up the next morning and look into those scrolls.

**

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Hakke no Fuuin Skiki - **Eight Divination Signs Seal Style 

**Shishou Fuuin - **Four Image Seal

**Author Notes** - And that ends chapter 4, and also ends the unofficial prologue, if you choose to include this as a prologue chapter, or, it ends the 1st chapter of the actual story, whatever you choose to judge it as. I myself will refer to it as chapter 1 of the real story to avoid confusion. A few notes for this chapter. You most likely noticed that I didn't mention the deaths of Kurenai's team in my author notes last chapter. Well, I didn't mention it for this case. Shino and Akamaru are dead, no arguing that. Kiba and Hinata.. could go either way. This is one of those things that really isn't that big of a deal in my story. I think it would fit better if I knocked them off, but I didn't have the heart to do it. Yet, i can integrate them into the story (though playing a minimal role) if they're alive, or, I can move on with life if I knock them off. So, for the reviews for this chapter, and the next 2 or 3 chapters after this 1, Tell me in your review whether you want them to live or die. Um.. let me see now, the thing with Kurenai in the Hokages office, don't read into it a lot. I just put it there to show that Naruto has a positive effect on everyone. This story will remain NaruSaku. I also tried to kindle something between them in this chapter. I want to show that their love for each other is there, but they don't realize it yet. For name references, Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo are the 2 chuunin that were guarding the gate in Naruto Shippuuden: Episode 1. Teuchi is the Old Man in the Ichiraku Ramen stand. Also sorry to people who didn't like the whole "poker game" bit. I basically wanted to have them doing something as well as talking about what they needed to discuss. And with the odd number of yen (2063 yen) I had actually gone and done the dollar to yen ratio on google before I did this. 2063 yen is equal to about 20 dollars. Anyways, With this, and the last 3 chapters, I've set up the path of my story. Also, I pretty much had up to this chapter done when I posted chapter 1, so updates definently won't be as fast as they have been, however, I'll try to keep a decent pace going. Next chapter... well, you'll see xD. I look forward to reading the reviews, and, until next time.


	5. Gravities Effect

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**

**Author Notes - **Yes! Now we're officially done with the prologue, now it's on to My story. So, with that said, we now move on from the exciting, heart-gripping prologue that was full of action,angst, and newly discovered secrets to... training. Yeah, sounds like tons of fun eh, but it has to be done, it's part of the story, so we have to go through 3 months (I'm not going to take that long to write it) of training that Naruto goes through. I think it fits the story better than starting chapter 5 with "3 months later.." Anyways, in this chapter, Naruto will be beginning his training, and also seeking the help of others to improve his skills. Looking back at my prologue, I found 1, huge glaring mistake in it. With Suigetsu, I forgot to really research what his styles were. I just wrote him as some sword wielding ninja with jutsu from the Hidden Mist Village. However, he actually has the ability to meld in with water, this making him the perfect person to take on Kisame. I found this out while writing chapter 4, and I decided that it would just be to troublesome to go back and edit all of that. I also was thinking of making this chapter a fallout from the prologue from Team Snake's and Akatsuki's point of view. Instead, I've decided to kind of dot the fallout in the chapters that are to come. Also, as I write these notes, I want to thank everyone that has reviewed my story (a whopping total of 9 reviews as I write this) for not flaming, and instead, when you had something to say about the story, gave me constructive criticism or constructive praise. I do appreciate it. Anywho, It's time to move on. So now, I give you, chapter 5.

_this font is for thoughts_

_this font is for flashbacks_

**this font is for jutsus and techniques**

**this font is for kyuubi**

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Chapter 5: Gravities Effect 

The Alarm clock blared an extremely loud, yet utterly familiar tune in the small and messy apartment. Most of the time, this would wake anyone up with ease. However, it would not rouse this certain ninja on this certain day so easily. Naruto woke up, but kept his eyes closed, and slammed his hand down on the "snooze" button of his alarm, and rolled over, making sure to grab his pillow along the way and fold it over his head. He had wanted to wake up early and get a good start on his training, but the previous night plagued him with sleepiness, and found it much easier to simply roll over and continue with his slumber.

_God damn, it's 6am already! Well I guess this is what I get for staying out late and only getting 4 hours of sleep._

On that note, his alarm clock began to sound off once again. Naruto immediately sat up and went for his alarm clock. "Alright already!" He yelled, "God damn can't a guy get a decent night's sleep once in a while?"

Naruto turned off his alarm clock, while swinging his leg's over the bed. Naruto quickly rubbed his eyes in order to better wake up, and then went into the bathroom to better to the job. Naruto splashed some cool water over his face, savoring the freshness of the feel. He was now able to fully open his eyes. He then stood there and stared at his own image in the mirror.

_Oh ya, that's right.. I've got to start training big time today. I probably gotta read the scrolls first before I actually do any training. _

Naruto then got himself undressed and stepped into the shower. He didn't really do anything. He more or less just stood there and let the water hit him. After showering, he got dressed in his Orange jumpsuit, grabbed the scrolls he had received the previous night, and made his way over to Ichiraku Ramen.

As he walked there, he noticed that he was one of the very few people that were actually up at this time. Of course, it was 6am, but it more or less was a shock to him. He wasn't exactly used to being up this early, and he was used to being one of the latest risers. He was interrupted from these thoughts when he realized he had already reached his destination. He flipped open the tarp covering the stand to see Teuchi and Ayame unpacking supplies and preparing for another day at work. They were interrupted from there task however, when Naruto entered. Teuchi turned around to see Naruto flop himself down on 1 of the stools.

"Oi, Naruto," Teuchi said, "Your up rather earlier than usual, what is occasion to which made you bother to do so?"

Naruto smiled at Teuchi and replied, "Well, I told you yesterday that I was going to be training out, so here I am!" Naruto changed his smile into a big grin that spread his face, all the while placing his scrolls neatly besides him. "So, how about that free bowl of Ramen you promised me?"

Teuchi gave Naruto a smile before taking his turn to reply. "But of course, not only that, but I'll give you the works to boot!"

Naruto slammed his hand down on the counter. "Yeah, alright! Thanks old man!" He exclaimed.

Teuchi turned around and waved his hand. "It's not trouble at all for you Naruto. Just make yourself comfortable and it'll be ready shortly."

Naruto just sat there and looked around the town from the spot he was in. He really wanted to open those scrolls and see what was inside of them, but he knew better than to do that while in the open. Jiraiya and Tsunade had asked him to keep all of this a secret for now, and we wasn't in a rush to break it.

Finally, Ayame placed the huge bowl of Ramen in front of him and tapped him on the shoulder, waking him from his thoughts. Naruto eyed the bowl of Ramen, and then turned to face Ayame, his foxy grin spreading on his face. "Thank you, Ayame-san." Ayame replied with a sweet smile of her own. "Anytime Naruto, now eat up," she exclaimed.

Naruto immediately turned back to the heaping bowl of ramen and picked up his chopsticks, raising them to the air, "Itadakimasu" he exclaimed, and he dug into the bowl of his favorite meal.

* * *

Naruto had walked a little way out of the village, finding a good clearing in which to begin his training. He was still a bit stuffed from the meal he had eaten earlier, but it was no matter to him. After he had finished, he had picked up his scrolls, heaved them over his shoulders, and then had made his way to the spot he was currently in right now. 

Naruto smiled as he let the scrolls drop to the ground. Today was a perfect day to be outside. It was a beautiful day. The sky was pretty much clear, there were a few clouds dotting the sky, but besides that, it was a clear blue sky. It was not to hot, and it wasn't to cold, and there was a slight breeze that was only just noticeable, but it all the same gave of a feeling of refreshment. Naruto collapsed to the ground and lay there for a few minutes, soaking in the great weather.

While laying back and relaxing, he turned his head to his right, and noticed the scrolls lying there._ Oh damn, I guess I better not lay down, I'll probably fall asleep if I do, I better get right down to it._ With that, Naruto stood up, and walked towards the scrolls.

"Now," He said out loud, "Which scroll should I start with." He examined the two scrolls for a moment, and then turned his attention to the bigger of the two. "Yeah, that one looks a lot more interesting, that's for sure." He exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head.

Naruto then picked up the bigger scroll. It was red with a bunch of yellow markings on the back. Naruto picked off the strand of thin rope binding the scroll, and rolled it out. The parchment went on for a good ten metres before finally reaching the end. Naruto gazed in wonder as he looked at the scroll.

"Now... this here, this is awesome!" He yelled. On the parchment before his eyes, was a list of ninjutsu. With each ninjutsu on the parchment, there was a guide to learning it, including all the hand-signs. It also had the jutsu's ranked in difficulty to learn and power. On the top of the scroll, it read 'Mastered and ready for use in combat.' Naruto could only assume that his father had written that there.

Naruto was nearly drooling from all the ninjutsu that were listed here. He was having a hard time choosing which one he would want to begin learning first. He had noticed that a lot of the jutsu on here were element based, so he would have to practice harnessing different elements.

While looking over the parchment, Naruto noticed, out of the corner of his eye, a small piece of rolled up parchment was rolling away from his little area. Naruto quickly got up and snatched it. He untied the small string keeping it rolled up and opened it to read it. the contents of it contained only one jutsu. However, Naruto couldn't help but notice three things about it. This jutsu was rated the highest difficulty to master, and the power of the technique only read 'off the charts.' He also noticed at the top there were two words, capitalized and underlined. The words simply read 'ten percent complete.' Naruto gave the piece of parchment a small smile.

_A technique that's 'that' powerful.. and it's this powerful at only ten percent completion. Makes me wonder how powerful it is when mastered. Suppose there's only one way to find out. I'm making it my personal goal to master this technique._

With those thoughts Naruto tucked the piece of parchment in his jacket pocket, and turned back to look at all the ninjutsu just waiting for him to master them. Naruto was about to choose a ninjutsu to start on when something clicked in his head.

_O yeah! There's that training method that Dad had mentioned in his letter. This scroll only has a list of ninjutsu.. so I can only assume.._

Naruto turned his head to the other scroll. Before making his way towards it, he rolled up the gigantic scroll and tied it off. Then, he walked towards the other scroll, and picked it up from the ground. The scroll was a very light black, with blue symbols covering the back as well. It was just a bit bigger than the other smaller scroll he had already tucked away. Naruto undid the string that kept it rolled up and let the bottom of the parchment fall to the ground, except it didn't quite touch the ground. Heck, it only went down to his knee level.

Naruto raised the scroll to eye level to read it, but only read blank parchment. There was nothing written there at all. Naruto rubbed his head in confusion before he felt something at his feet. He looked down to see a small note being whipped against his ankles by the gentle breeze. He sat down and picked up the note. Naruto was able to make out small writing on the note, as well as.

_**Naruto**_

_**This scroll, as you have most likely noticed already is blank. This scroll is what contains the training I wrote about in the letter your mother and I left behind. Upon opening it, if it wasn't a member of my family (the only member that is alive now is you), a force of chakra would've knocked the person out, and then the scroll would've re-sealed it's contents again. In order to activate the blank scroll, simply write your name across it with your own blood, and follow instructions.**_

_**Minato**_

_**P,S. Make sure you get done what you need to get done for the day done before you begin, you won't be standing up for a while.**_

Naruto smiled. _Won't be stand up for a while... what does he mean by that._ Thoughts aside, he folded the letter into his other jacked pocket. Naruto then took a small bite out of the skin his his right index finger. A small cut opened on his finger, and a tiny bit of blood flowed out. He then laid out the scroll and put his finger on one side of the blank piece of parchment.

Naruto smiled and began. "Uz...u...mak...i...Nar...u...to!" He was now on the other side of the paper, having finished writing his name. All of the sudden, the piece of parchment, now dawning his name, disappeared.. only to now be replaced with yet another scroll. When it appeared, it immediately unrolled itself in front of Naruto.

Naruto's eyes bulged at the commencements taking place in front of him. This scroll was a bright gold color, and it shone brightly as it hovered in front of him. On the top, attached to the the scroll, was a black and gold fountain pen. Naruto clasp his finger's around the pen, and began to trace the words of the scroll with it.

_**Gravities Effect**_

_**Within this scroll, lies the key to Ultimate Training. However, before continuing, be for-warned that this training cannot be undergone by any normal person. Only people with an abnormal amount of chakra have the capabilities within them to withstand the strain this training doles out. The user must also have the ability to mold chakra. You have been warned.**_

_How would he have known that I was going to have a high chakra limit before I was even born?_ Putting these thoughts aside, Naruto continued to read.

_**The training that you are about to undergo will change the effect of gravity on the user. The change will be roughly about twenty times that of normal gravity. The training will be available for three months upon signing your name at the bottom of the contract. Side effect's of the training include decrease in life expectancy at a decrease rate of four months for every month in use, stunted growth, and extreme fatigue. Upon completion of the training, the user's speed, accuracy, and power will have dramatically increased in all three ninja styles. The user will also be able to activate and deactivate the scroll by signing their name on the scroll as well. Signing the first time will activate the effects, and signing a second time will deactivate the effects. Upon signing below, you meet the requirements that need to be met to use this method. You also have a firm understanding of what will take place, the negatives, and the positives. If you do not have a complete understanding of the contents of this scroll, please go back and read this through until you do. If you do have a complete understanding, you are either not fit to undergo this, or you are ready to sign below and begin. Upon completion of your signature, your signature will disappear and the effects will activate in approximately five seconds after it disappears.**_

Naruto finished reading, and re-read the contents a few times over again, making sure he had a complete understanding of what he was getting himself into. He sported a rather worried look on his face. _No wonder he only meant this for me, I'm the only person that I know of that has an abnormally high stamina. This training sound pretty rough.. But if it will make me more powerful, then I'll definitely do it. _Naruto then screwed his facial features up and looked at the scroll with confidence.

He took the pen to the bottom of the scroll, and once again began to sign his name. His hand was shaking a little during the event, but he eventually finished signing the scroll. The signature then disappeared, and then the scroll rolled itself up and tied itself in a golden lace.

Naruto had immediately started the countdown after the scroll had finished it's proceedings. five_...four...three...two..._

Without any warning, it felt as though a ton of bricks had slammed into every portion of Naruto's body, this in turn, caused Naruto to crumple down towards the ground with a resounding thud. Naruto felt as though about twenty sumo wrestlers were sitting down on him at once. He felt absolutely crushed. He attempted to make a move up, but as much as his brain willed it, his body wouldn't comply. Naruto was basically stuck in the certain position he had landed in.

_Well... at least I landed on my back.._ And he felt only too lucky to have done so, out of the many positions he could have fallen into, he had fallen into the most relaxed one. He simply lay on the spot looking up at the sky. _Well, this is just great, it's going to take forever just to stand up now let alone walk._

Naruto lay on the spot for a couple hours, frequently trying to make a move up. But he never made any real progress. In the couple of hours he lay there, he was able to move both arms straight up above him, but that was it. He had tried to shift his body and roll over, to begin the process of standing, however he wasn't yet able to accomplish that at all.

It was after that couple of hours, that he noticed, in the corner of his eye, a small figure in the distance making their way towards where he was.

_Oh, more wondrous news approaches. How the hell am I going to be able to explain all of this without giving anything away._

The most compromising thing about his situation, was that all he could do was wait for the inevitable. Someone was coming, and he had just begun his training. He couldn't move from the spot, and he couldn't tell them the truth because of a promise he had made to Tsunade and Jiraiya. As the figure came into view, Naruto was able to make out that the person was wearing a red vest, as well as a pink fabric slightly covering the persons tight, black shorts. He could also make out that the person had very familiar pink hair. The person walking towards him was none other than Haruno Sakura.

_Damnit! Out of all the people, it had to be her. How the hell am I supposed to lie to her!?!? Even if it was easy to lie to her... it would be extremely hard._

Naruto merely turned his attention towards the sky above him, pretending not to take notice. Maybe she wouldn't notice either. Then he would be able to avoid that difficult situation. However, Sakura made her way over to Naruto, and stood directly over him, her face taking up his view of the sky.. not that he was complaining.

"Hey there, Naruto." She began. She was bent over, hands on knees, looking directly into Naruto's eyes.

Deciding it would be best to just go along with it, Naruto plastered his trademark grin across his face. "Hey Sakura-chan, what's up?"

Sakura readily spoke up, "Not much really, was just looking for you. Kakashi-sensei wants to train is in Water-Affinity," she said, "I got to admit, I'm pretty psyched up to be learning an element."

Naruto smiled and then stated, "That's great Sakura-chan! You'll definitely master that element, no problem." With those words, he once again flashed his grin.

Sakura continued where she left off. "Kakashi-sensei was saying that we had three months in which to train and get stronger, courtesy of Tsunade-sama. He wants to take advantage of that and prepare for what's ahead."

"That sounds like Kakashi-sensei alright," Naruto exclaimed, "I'd come along, but I'm afraid I can't come and train with you." He finished that statement off with a weak smile directed to Sakura.

Sakura's face turned into a small frown. "Oh? And just why can't you come and train, you don't look like your doing much to me."

"What are you talking about, I'm doing a lot right now, I'm..." Naruto then remembered that he couldn't tell anybody else about his special training, "I'm... watching the clouds go by.. I'm trying to keep count here you see." He finished that off with a nervous laugh.

Sakura's frown only grew when he gave her that reason. "Ohhh? Well, unfortunately for you, I see that as an extremely crappy and lame excuse." With that, Sakura raised her fist to connect with Naruto.

Naruto could only watch as she rose her fist. Considering he couldn't move, he was helpless from whatever Sakura might do to him. He winced as Sakura raised her fist to connect with Naruto's face. There was only one problem for Naruto preparing for contact with his face, the reason being that Sakura wasn't aiming for his face. Sakura was bringing her fist down to his nuts.

_OHHH FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's going to fucking kill me!!_

As those thoughts came, Sakura's fist struck home, all the while making a tiny crater at the point of impact. Another problem that arose for Naruto, was that he couldn't curl up to attempt to ease the pain. He was stuck in that same position on his back, unable to do anything about the immense pain that came with the blow.

To say Sakura was shocked would be an understatement. She had expected Naruto to move out of the way, or at least attempt to offer some resistance, However, Naruto hadn't done either. He had simply lay on the spot and took the blow.

"Oh crap.. Naruto!" She exclaimed in a loud voice, "Are you alright there? God damn I'm so sorry, I never actually thought I was going to connect." Naruto never answered though. He had his eyes shut tight, and was grinding his teeth in pain. Sakura then spoke up again. "Naruto... are you alright?"

Naruto, was finally able to force out an answer. "Ughh, what do you think? You just sacked me!!"

Sakura immediately responded. "I'm really sorry Naruto, I never thought that I would actually connect with that punch."

Naruto instantly retorted. "Well, I would've made a move if I was actually able to move from my spot!" Sakura immediately went rigid. Naruto wondered why she had frozen up like that, but then realized his mistake. _Oh crap, I slipped up. I've clued her in already.._

Naruto looked up at Sakura, who sat there for a few minutes before uttering, "you..can't move? Are you hurt? Do you need medical assistance? I can carry you to the hospital if you need me to..."

Naruto looked past Sakura's face into the sky above. He thought about that for a moment before replying "no.. I'm not hurt, besides the fact that you sacked me. I'm fine where I am right now, don't worry about it Sakura-chan."

Sakura then asked "Well, if your not hurt, then why can't you move."

_Well, I just trapped myself here, I'm screwed.. sorry Ero-sennin, Tsunade Baa-chan.. but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to tell her._

Naruto shifted his gaze to meet Sakura's. "If I tell you, do you promise to keep this a secret?" He asked, "Not even Kakashi-sensei can know about this, Heck, I'm not supposed to tell you either, this is supposed to be between me, Ero-Sennin, and Tsunade Baa-chan."

Sakura contemplated his words for a moment, and then nodded her head. "Yeah, I promise I won't tell anyone, Naruto."

Naruto smiled at her. He knew he could trust her, so there was no harm in telling her what was going on. "Well, first off, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but..." Naruto nodded downwards from where he lay. Sakura looked down to where his gaze was lingering, and immediately pulled her hand back as she blushed an extremely deep shade of red. "oh, sorry Naruto."

What they were referring to was indeed Sakura's hand. After sacking Naruto, she hadn't removed her hand from the spot it was in. She had instead let her hand rest on Naruto's crotch area, all the while lightly fondling him. Sakura was completely unaware of this until Naruto had pointed it out. Yet, it had felt so natural.. so right, but, Sakura couldn't put her finger on the reason why it felt that way.

Naruto let a small smile grace his face when Sakura had turned around, and, interrupting her from her thoughts he said "Okay then, reach into my jacket pocket. There should be a couple letters in there. They should explain most of what's going on."

Sakura turned around once again, trace amounts of the blush that was on her face moments ago still lingering there. She nodded her head and moved towards the chest pocket. She moved her hand around, searching for a piece of parchment, but all of the sudden, stopped moving her hand. She sat there for a few moments, lost in her own mind for a moment, until Naruto's voice woke her from her thoughts. "Hey, Sakura-chan.. you there?"

Sakura immediately realized what she was doing. "Oh.. sorry Naruto." With that, she moved her hand a little more down and found a couple pieces of parchment. She closed her hands on the paper and took them out of his pocket. She then sat back and began to read both of the letters, soaking in the information that was scrawled on them. Meanwhile, Naruto began to attempt to once again shift his body into a position in which he could begin the standing process. After a few failed attempts. Naruto finally shifted his torso to it's side, and let gravity do the rest, as he fell to his stomach. He had now succeeded in part two of standing up.

As Naruto flipped over on to his stomach, Sakura finished reading the two letters addressed to Naruto. To say she was shocked would be an understatement. "Naruto.. is this all true? Are you really the Yondaimes son?"

Naruto took a moment to catch his breath from the impact of the short fall. "Yeah, it's true, everything on those letters is true.." He stated.

A look of horror crossed her face. "I... never knew. But then, that means, that the Yondaime sealed that thing, that burden, inside of his own son! How could he do such a thing to you!?"

A sad smile crossed Naruto's face as he once again directed his gaze towards the sky. "Being Hokage, means putting the villages well-being over your own. In order to be Hokage, you have to truly care for the village. Sealing the Kyuubi inside of me only proves one thing in my opinion... and that's that he put the village first, and his personal life second. It proves that he was truly fit for the title 'Hokage'."

As he explained this, Sakura was starting to put the pieces of the previous day in place. "So then.. the meeting you had with Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya, it had to do with all of this then.." she stated.

Naruto simply replied "Yeah.."

Sakura then, sensing he was giving her the go ahead to continue, asked "So then, what kind of training is it that The Yondaime was referring to."

Naruto contemplated how to best answer her question. He then answered "What I'm doing right now, is fighting gravity." He looked over to Sakura to see a confused look on her face. He then looked back up towards the sky and continued. "Basically.. gravity acts differently on me than anywhere else in the world. Right now the pressure I feel is about twenty times that of normal gravity.. so, that's why I can't get up right now, though, I am working on it." He finished, looking towards Sakura and flashing her a foxy grin.

Sakura then asked "Why would you go through fighting an abnormal gravity?"

Naruto immediately answered. "When I'm done with this training, my speed, accuracy, and power will be increased by a ton. However, it's not the only thing I'm going to be doing. While I'm doing this, I'm going to be training myself from the contents of that other scroll, along with the effects of 'Gravities Effect'."

Sakura looked past Naruto in the distance while simply replying "I see..." She sat there for a few minutes, contemplating everything Naruto had said. She now realized that the reason they had three months to train was because of this training regiment Naruto was going to be undergoing. With those thoughts in mind, she stood up and looked at Naruto again. She couldn't help but notice that Naruto had now made it to his hands and knees. She couldn't help but smile at his resolve. Sakura could only imagine what it would feel like to be fighting gravity like Naruto was. She pulled herself from those thoughts and then said "Well.. I was only supposed to come by to find you and bring you to meet Kakashi-sensei, but it seems as though your going to be occupied for a while." Naruto merely nodded his head, still trying to catch his breath from changing positions. Sakura continued, "So, since I can't tell Kakashi-sensei about this, what should I tell him?"

Naruto thought on this question for a minute, before answering, "Just tell him to talk to Tsunade Baa-chan, she'll excuse me from the training, it'll be all good." Naruto then looked to Sakura to see what she would say to the statement.

Sakura simply nodded her head and turned around. "Alright then, I'll just tell him that," she said. She then raised her hand to wave behind her as she said "We'll see you later then, Naruto."

Naruto flashed a foxy grin. "Alright then, bye Sakura-chan." With those words, Naruto turned back to concentrate on his situation as Sakura walked off.

Now, on his hands and knees, he had reached step three in standing up. Now he was concentrating on getting his legs out from under him and getting his feet flat on the ground. He gave it multiple attempts at first, but he was never able to quite lift his leg into the position he needed to get it into. This ended up proving to be the must frustrating part of the process he would endure. He had considered using the Bunshin technique to get his clones to help him up, but decided against it, knowing that he had to complete this on his own. He wondered how weird he must look, standing in the middle of a field, on his hands and knees for hours. However, thoughts aside, he finally was able to manage to get both feet out from under him and flat on to the ground. Now, on his feet, it was simply a matter of shifting his torso from it's horizontal position to a vertical position. He very quickly put his hands on his knees, and forced his torso upwards. Naruto was finally standing.

He looked at his pocket watch he had brought with him. It read 2pm. "Damn... It took seven hours JUST to stand up!?!?!?" He exclaimed out loud. However, he was pretty happy with himself at the moment, standing up with fighting the gravity had been extremely hard, but he had done it. "Alright then!! Now, it's time to practice WALKING!"

_Wow... does that sound pathetic or what.._

Naruto started out by taking slow steps, making laps around the field and trying to get used to the gravity. He found that his first lap took about two hours, but then as he went on, he improved his time by double each time. Eventually, at about 6pm, he was walking around the field, taking five minutes every time, which was his normal pace. However, he couldn't lift his leg's quite enough to run yet, and knew that it was probably going to take quite a bit of time over the days to get to his normal running speed. After taking about a half hour longer to make more laps around the field, he picked up all of his scrolls and made his way back towards town.

* * *

Naruto was planning to cash in straight when he got home, but on his way, he passed the Ichiraku Ramen stand, and he couldn't help himself. He had to go there and stuff himself before he went home, considering he hadn't eaten since the morning. 

"Oi, Naruto," Teuchi exclaimed upon seeing Naruto come to sit down, "Did your training go well today?"

Naruto flashed a grin and gave him the thumbs up. "Definitely," He said, "But I'm starving now, Could I get One Miso Ramen, with the works?" Naruto then laid down the amount of yen that was needed to buy the dish.

Teuchi gathered up the yen and replied. "But of course, Naruto."

Naruto leaned back in his stool a bit. "Thanks, old man."

Teuchi waved back to signal that he had heard him, and began to make Naruto's order.

"I thought I'd find you at this place, Naruto."

Naruto looked behind him at the bearer of those words. "Hey Ero-Sennin," he said with a smile.

Jiraiya simply took the stool besides Naruto. "Yo," he then turned to Teuchi, "I'm feeling like Ramen today, why don't you make me what your making Naruto here?"

Teuchi looked around in awe to see Jiraiya sitting in his booth ordering Ramen. He had only ever seen him at his stand once, and that was right after the Sound Invasion of Konoha. He then awoke from his momentary stupor and replied, "Yes, right away, Jiraiya-sama."

Naruto looked on at the exchange between the two men. When they had finished, Naruto spoke up. "So Ero-Sennin, why were you looking for me?"

Jiraiya immediately turned to face Naruto and replied, "Ohhhh, just wanted to see how your training was going." He then paused before continuing, "I'm taking it you've began the training that we discussed yesterday?"

Naruto immediately replied, "Yeah... I've been at it all day. I woke up very early and I just finished a little while ago. It was really tough, and it took an extremely high amount of time just to get to walking."

Jiraiya smiled at these words. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, it took The Yondaime twelve hours just to stand up. Since your already walking around, you've easily adapted to this training better than he did." Jiraiya then turned to face straight ahead of him. The fact that Naruto had adapted to walking so quickly amazed him. It had taken the Yondaime a full twenty-four hours to hit that mark. He couldn't help but feel pride at how talented Naruto really was. "However, you still got a long way to go, so don't let that go to your head."

Naruto let a grin spread across his face. "Don't worry about it Ero-Sennin, I definitely won't do that, otherwise I'll fall way behind. I've got to keep ahead of him now!"

Jiraiya continued to look forward. "That's good Naruto. Keep up that attitude, and you'll be one ninja to be feared by many."

Naruto then mimicked Jiraiya and looked forwards as well. "I get the feeling that that's not the only reason you've come to see me."

Jiraiya turned to face Naruto. "Oh? Well, your definitely a lot quicker than you used to be. No, I didn't just come to check up on you."

Naruto immediately replied. "So then.. why else have you come to see me?"

Before Jiraiya could reply, Ayame appeared beside Jiraiya, sporting two bowls of Ramen, one in each hand. "Sorry to interrupt your conversation," she said, "But I have two steaming hot bowls of Ramen ready for the both of you." She then placed the two bowls in front of both of the ninja, and made her way back behind the stand.

Naruto instantly thanked her as she had placed them down, and then turned back to Jiraiya. "Now, back to what we were talking about, why else have you..." Naruto stopped talking, as he noticed Jiraiya wasn't paying attention. He was gawking Ayame up and down as she was making her way back to behind the stand. You could make out a small line of drool making his way down the right side of his chin. Naruto moved his face in front of him and rather loudly stated "Ero-Sennin... get your head out of the gutter."

Jiraiya immediately straightened up and looked as normal as possible before Ayame turned around to see what Naruto was talking about. "What are you talking about Naruto, you idiot, I was just admiring the smell of..." Jiraiya thought on an excuse, but couldn't really come up with a good one, so went with the first one that entered his mind. "I was just admiring the smell of the Ramen cooking, it smells very delicious." He finished, giving off a nervous laugh.

Naruto immediately countered. "I saw what you were looking at Ero-Sennin, keep your perverted ways away from this stand." He then turned to face Ayame, "Ayame-san.. watch yourself around Ero-Sennin here, he's a pervert with no equal."

Ayame cringed at Naruto's words and nodded fervently, and continued her work, but continually checking up on Jiraiya to make sure he wasn't looking her up.

Jiraiya turned to face Naruto. "Damnit kid, don't go around ruining my reputation here!" He yelled. He then regained his composure and then said, "So, what were you saying again?"

Naruto looked at Jiraiya with an extremely annoyed look on his face before replying, "I was wondering why else you came to see me?"

Jiraiya thought on his words before replying. "I wanted to find you, to tell you that while you need to stick to the training in those scrolls, you should also balance your training out. You should not only train on the ninjutsu on that scroll, but also on Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and now.. Kenjutsu, since you have that giant sword."

Naruto smiled at that comment. "Yeah.. that sounds like a good idea. But Ninjutsu's always been my big strong point. I'm not sure how effectively I could train myself in the other areas.."

Jiraiya smiled at Naruto and replied, "Who said that you have to train by yourself?"

Naruto looked at him questioningly. "Well, who else would train me in those other areas?"

Jiraiya had just finished his bowl of ramen, and now stood up to make his leave. "You'd be surprised at how many people you'll find willing to help you out Naruto. As I said before, you tend to bring out the best in people. Just think of who you'd like to have train you and go ask them, I'm sure they wouldn't mind giving you some of their time."

Naruto nodded his head and waved goodbye to Jiraiya as he walked away. Before he could go back to eating his bowl of ramen, Jiraiya's voice spoke once more.

"Oh, and Naruto?" Naruto turned his head back to look at Jiraiya, "I am still your sensei, you know, so there are a couple thing's I'd like to teach you. I think you'll find what I have planned will be to your liking."

Naruto smirked at this comment. "Damn rights I will! I'll definitely be looking forward to that!"

Jiraiya smiled and turned around. "Alright then, I suppose we'll start you off in about a weeks time. I'd like you to get everything else set up and running. I'll talk to you later Naruto."

Naruto then asked, "Where are you going, we've only been talking for a little while?"

Jiraiya simply replied, "Tsunade asked for me to stop by the Tower for a little while tonight. Not sure what she wants, but I guess I'll find out, right?"

Naruto smiled and then waved to Jiraiya. "Yeah, suppose your right. Well, we'll talk to you later Ero-Sennin." With those words, Naruto turned back to dive into his steaming, hot bowl of ramen.

**

* * *

Author Notes** - Well, there's chapter 5 for you. My goal for these training chapters is basically to touch upon a point of interest each chapter. And so now you have the secret training that Naruto is going to be going through. Already he's told one person about it, that person being Sakura. Will anyone else find out about this training? Only time will tell. I have to admit, the gravity thing is not completely original. I got the initial idea from the fanfic called Naruto: Hands of Destiny by Terra of Genesis (Great fic, I recommend it). However, I tweaked up a few things to it to make it so the idea was somewhat original. I also have to recommend reading his other fic as well. This guy knows how to write. As you can probably tell, in regards to NaruSaku, I'm going to be building their relationship slowly. I'd rather not hurry it, and instead prioritize showing how they get up to the point they get to. Anyways, you should all have a pretty clear idea of what Naruto's going to be up to for the next few months. Voting for Kiba and Hinata's death or survival will end 2 chapters from now. In the next chapter, we will find out who Naruto goes to for his Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and Kenjutsu training. I challenge you to guess all three of the people he will receive training from. I look forward to reading the reviews, so until next time. 


	6. Seeking the Styles

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**

**Author Notes - **Now, it is time for chapter 6. We've now found out the special training that Naruto will be using for the next 3 months. In this chapter, Naruto will be seeking help to train in the other ninja styles and kenjutsu. We get to read a fun filled chapter of talking!! If you read my author notes from last chapter, you'll see that I had actually planned to have this be part of the last chapter I wrote, however, I decided that chapter 5 was long enough without this, and the chapters would actually flow more smoothly than they would've if I had included this in it. Wow, I really don't have very much to touch on at the moment. If anybodies wondering. If I was to stop the voting for the Hinata/Kiba bit. It would be 3 to 2 in favor of them living. (On the homepage site on my profile, I have 3 people there that I send the rough drafts to, One has voted for them to live and one has voted for them to die. One hasn't voted yet.) So, if your wanting to see me knock off Hinata and Kiba, post a reply saying so, otherwise they'll be alive and kicking. And if you want to see them live, vote for them to increase your lead over the other side. I only count one vote per person as well. Other than that, I'm fresh out of things to say for now, so, on with... Chapter 6!

_this font is for thoughts_

_this font is for flashbacks_

**this font is for jutsus and techniques**

**this font is for kyuubi**

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* * *

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Chapter 6: Seeking the Styles 

"Itachi!!! I'll kill you!"

Sasuke woke up with a start. He was expecting to see Itachi standing over him, preparing for the next move in their fight, however, that was not to be. Sasuke instead found himself laying on a mattress on a barren floor.

_Where am I... what happened?_

Before he could think any further. His teammates, Karin and Jugo ran into the room upon hearing his voice. "Sasuke, your awake!" Karin exclaimed. "How are you feeling? Are you hurt? Do you need any assistance?"

Sasuke frowned at her. "No.. I don't actually. What are we doing here? And, where's Suigetsu?"

Karin let the smallest of frowns cross her face. "Well, first off.. Suigetsu is dead. Kisame killed him in a fight.," she said, "And as for where we are, we're in the village we were in after you fought the other Akatsuki member."

Sasuke merely replied. "I see.. we'll have to make sure to avenge Suigetsu's death as well." Then his original phrase came into mind. "What happened with Itachi... if I'm here.. why didn't he kill me when he had the chance?"

Karin didn't respond to what he had said, she just looked away from him.

"Well, I'm going to make him regret letting me live!" Sasuke exclaimed, "I'm going to go out and gain the Mangekyu Sharingan, and then, he won't be able to defeat me at all!" Sasuke then tried to stand up, but fell back down, he was still in a bit of pain from his fight,

Karin immediately brought a washcloth to his forehead, and then spoke up. "Don't try to over-exert yourself, you still have some mental damage to your brain from the attack. We're probably not going to be able to make any immediate moves for a while.."

_Flashback_

_Kisame turned around to meet Itachi's face. "Well, that was fun, and from the looks of it, you had a bit of fun too." Itachi merely smiled at the comment, so Kisame continued. "What about those two kids, should we get rid of them?"_

_Itachi immediately replied, "No.. they aren't worth the effort right now. Besides, Sasuke needs them at the moment anyways." Kisame looked confused so Itachi continued. "The boy didn't have the Mangekyu, therefore, he wasn't worth killing, so, I left him with a parting gift." With that, Itachi flashed his eyes and gave a malevolent smile._

_Kisame frowned. "You know that technique isn't good for you, you got to be more careful with that." Kisame paused before adding, "That technique is like a fucking drug to you for crying out __loud!"_

_Itachi contemplated his words for a minute before commenting. "It doesn't matter.. soon, the side effects of the Mangekyu won't matter to me.. if all goes according to plan anyways." Itachi walked a little ways past Kisame, signaling that is was time to go._

_End Flashback_

"And Sasuke... I don't think you should try to gain the Mangekyu."

Sasuke looked at Karin with a look of disdain. "And why shouldn't I? shouldn't I gain it to be able to defeat Itachi? Who are you to tell me this?"

Karin looked down and replied. "We overheard him and Kisame talking.. it sounds as though that's exactly what he wants you to do.. it's more than likely that you'd be working into Itachi's plans if you gained the Mangekyu."

Sasuke immediately replied. "I see.. then it looks like I have to fight him as I am.. without the Mangekyu. I'm definitely going to be the major underdog.."

Karin looked back up and replied, gaining confidence. "Hell no you won't. Your Uchiha Sasuke, you killed Orochimaru damnit! You'll kill Itachi no sweat!"

Sasuke looked down. "Orochimaru was already weakened when I killed him.. it means nothing."

Karin was irate. "Nothing! Nothing! Orochimaru isn't exactly nothing damnit! Weakened or not, you still killed him, and you can get your brother as well."

Sasuke continued to look down, with a mournful expression on his face. "Yeah... I sure hope your right Karin."

* * *

Naruto woke up with a start, as his alarm clock blared beside him once again, signaling that it was 6am, and that it was time to get out of bed and begin another day of training. Well, that wasn't quite going to be the case, and yet it was going to be the case. Today, Naruto had to take care of some business. 

_Flashback_

_Jiraiya thought on his words before replying. "I wanted to find you, to tell you that while you need to stick to the training in those scrolls, you should also balance your training out. You should not only train on the ninjutsu on that scroll, but also on Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and now.. Kenjutsu, since you have that giant sword."_

_Naruto smiled at that comment. "Yeah.. that sounds like a good idea. But Ninjutsu always been my big strong point. I'm not sure how effectively I could train myself in the other areas.."_

_Jiraiya smiled at Naruto and replied, "Who said that you have to train by yourself?"_

_Naruto looked at him questioningly. "Well, who else would train me in those other areas?"_

_Jiraiya had just finished his bowl of ramen, and now stood up to make his leave. "You'd be surprised at how many people you'll find willing to help you out Naruto. As I said before, you tend to bring out the best in people. Just think of who you'd like to have train you and go ask them, I'm sure they wouldn't mind giving you some of their time."_

_End Flashback_

Yes, today, Naruto was going to take Jiraiya's advice, and go seek the help of his friends and mentors for help in his other ninja styles. He already had in mind who he was going to talk to, and was more or less looking forward to the day.

_God damn alarm..._ Naruto turned to glare at his alarm clock sitting on the side table beside his bed. _One of these days... I'm going to fucking bash that thing in!_

Naruto swung his legs over his bed and walked into the shower. Still having the gravity seal on, Naruto found it to be extremely difficult just to take a shower, with all of the steaming hot water splashing over him. However, he had decided to keep it on pretty much all of the time, in order to get used to it faster, and get much better effects when he was done. He wanted to take full advantage of 'Gravities Effect.'

Naruto stepped out of the shower and got dressed. However, instead of going over to Ichiraku Ramen, He decided to make his own balanced breakfast at home. So, Naruto dug up contents to make... ramen. Naruto licked his lips as he cooked his own Miso Ramen recipe over his stove, and later, poured the Ramen into a gigantic bowl. Naruto picked out some chopsticks and heaved the Ramen down his throat. He was wanting to get out the door as quickly as possible, to get everything done that needed to be done.

As Naruto was putting his bowl in his sink, a sudden glint caught his eye. He shifted his glance over to the corner of the room. There, leaning against the wall, was the Kubigiri-Houchou. He couldn't wait to get started training with that, however, since he wasn't exactly going to be 'starting' today, he decided against bringing it along, as it might attract a bit more attention than Naruto really wanted to have. So, Naruto merely dug out the one gigantic scroll with all the Ninjutsu on it, and made his way to the field he had been training in the previous day.

As Naruto walked out of the door, the feeling of the cool, crisp morning air hit him suddenly. Naruto stood there for a moment, savoring the feel of the breeze that was hitting him. Then, he made his way through town. Today was looking to be a day a lot like the previous day. The only difference was that it looked like a few more clouds would be covering the sky.

When Naruto got to the field, he decided that since it was so early in the morning, he would take a bit of time to train himself before he got down to business. Naruto did a couple of stretches, and then made his way around the field, simply doing laps, and getting his body more used to the effects of 'Gravities Effect.' Naruto even sped up a couple times from walking and took quick spurts of slow jogging. He was only able to jog for about five seconds each time. But as the day went on, he found he was able to do it more and more.

Finally, 9am came, and Naruto discontinued his laps, and made his way to the humongous scroll still rolled up and tied off. Naruto immediately undid the lace, and let the scroll once again roll out like he had done the previous day. Naruto then smirked and brought his hands together.

**Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu**

hundreds of Naruto clones immediately appeared all over the field, totaling about one thousand clones. The clones starting shouting incoherent nonsense, and the noise filled the fields. Naruto's face immediately fell as the clones continued to yell out. _Am I really this annoying...?_

With those thoughts, Naruto instantly shouted "Hey! You guys, I mean... ah never mind, just look over here and pay attention!"

The chatter gradually died down at the shouted command by Naruto, and a couple minutes later, absolute silence filled the field, all of the clones directing their attention at the real Naruto._ Wow... so many Me's looking at me.. that's just a little bit creepy._

Naruto put these thoughts to the back of his head and cleared his throat. He then yelled out to the rest of himself. "Alright you guys, listen up, today, your all going to be training out of this scroll. I want you to begin learning ALL of the techniques on this scroll, starting from the top!"

All the Naruto's nodded their heads, and made their way to gather around the giant scroll. As they ran, they were all shouting. "Yeah!! Tons and tons of powerful jutsu. The more jutsu we have, the stronger we'll be!"

The real Naruto flashed a foxy grin at their enthusiasm, and he then turned to make his way back towards town. He had some people to track down today.

* * *

Naruto had decided to seek out someone to help him with his Genjutsu training first. 

This, being the weakest point in his fighting ability, was the first thing he wanted to have addressed. So now, Naruto found himself on familiar grounds. Naruto was sitting on the ground, leaning on a stump protruding from the ground, which was between two other stumps. He remembered this stump, having once been tied to it way back in his early days of being a ninja. Naruto was on the Training Grounds of his old Team 7. It was one of those places he wasn't to fond of, it only served to remind him that Sasuke was still gone, and that he had a lot of work ahead of him. Finally, two figures materialized in the distance and made their way towards his location. Naruto already knew who they were, because he had been waiting for one of them.

"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto yelled, "Kakashi-Sensei! Over here!"

"Naruto! What are you doing here?" Sakura questioned him, "I thought you had.. other matters to attend to."

Kakashi walked up behind Sakura, keeping his face set to look like he had a mild interest on what was going on. "So... have you decided to come and learn Water-Affinity after all?"

Naruto shook his head at the statement. "No, I didn't come for that Kakashi-Sensei. However, I did come here in the hopes that you would come by."

Kakashi raised a questioning eyebrow at Naruto, signaling him to continue. "Well.. I was hoping that you could multi-task in training me and Sakura."

Kakashi thought on this and replied. "Well, that really depends, what are you wanting to be trained in?"

Naruto quickly answered with a ready statement. "Well, I know that I can't perform Genjutsu, but I was wondering if you could teach me to defend Genjutsu's better, so I don't keep getting caught in them. It's a skill I'm going to need."

Kakashi looked at Naruto like he was possessed, and then burst out laughing, in a rare showing of his emotions. "Hahaha, you want ME to teach you Genjutsu defense? He asked. "Oh God, that's a good one Naruto, but seriously, what are you wanting me to train you in?"

Naruto frowned at Kakashi. "I'm serious, I want you to train me to defend against Genjutsu." Naruto then stood up and began to state his case. "I mean, I've seen you perform Genjutsu before, so I know your pretty decent at it, plus I don't know anyone else who can perform Genjutsu, so please, could you help me out?"

Kakashi reverted back to his original face. "Sorry, but I can't train you in that, I'm rather busy at the moment. However, I could recommend a much better teacher than myself to help you in that department."

Naruto squinted his eyes at Kakashi and frowned. "This sounds oddly familiar..."

_Flashback_

_It was just after the Chuunin preliminaries, and Naruto was looking for Sasuke. The nurses told him he wasn't being allowed visitors, when Kakashi walked by_

_"Naruto, be quiet inside the hospital," Kakashi said_

_"Oh! Kakashi Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed. "Hey like! Hey like! I have a request!!"_

_Kakashi interrupted him. "No need to tell me, well, I already know what your going to ask... I found someone who will look after your training."_

_Naruto was irate. "Why!? I want you Kakashi-Sensei!"_

_Kakashi replied, "I've got some business to take care of, so, I don't have the time to look after you."_

_Naruto thought on those words and then shouted "I know! Your planning to train Sasuke!"_

_Kakashi replied in his bored tone. "Now, now, don't say that.. because I've found a teacher for you who's much more reliable than me."_

_Naruto then said "Like.. who is it."_

_An oddly familiar voice then replied. "It's me."_

_Naruto turned around in utter shock. "Oh, your... the closet pervert!!"_

_End Flashback_

"This is like that time you left me with Ebisu to train Sasuke!!"

Kakashi then smiled and rubbed the back of his head. "Hey, hey. I'm actually telling you the truth this time."

Naruto looked at him sceptically. "So, who are you suggesting then..?"

Kakashi replied "Go look around for Kurenai. She's the Genjutsu specialist in this village. She'll be able to help you out far more than myself."

Naruto was taken aback at that statement. "But.. I've never seen Kurenai use Genjutsu... but then again.. I guess I've never really even seen her fight..." Naruto thought on this for a moment and then said, "Alright Kakashi-Sensei! I'll take your word for it this time, I'll go find her!"

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "That's probably the better choice. Even if I was a better Genjutsu user, it would clash to much with Sakura's Water Affinity training."

Naruto looked back at Kakashi and said, "You train her well, you hear. She better be damn good with that element by the time these three months are over."

Kakashi smiled and replied. "I gave her the chakra paper test, she's Water natured, so that's her main affinity."

Naruto smiled and turned to walk away. "That's good, you train her well then Kakashi. We'll see you later Kakashi. You too Sakura, Have fun training!"

Sakura smiled and waved at him "We'll see you later Naruto!"

Kakashi merely let an all knowing smile creep behind his mask as he watched Naruto walk off.

* * *

Naruto made his way around town looking to find a sign of where Kurenai might be, but after an hour of searching, he was beginning to become impatient. 

_I really should've asked Kakashi-Sensei where Kurenai-Sensei lives... O yeah, maybe someone from her former team would know!... Wait... Shino's dead and Kiba and Hinata are in the hospital.. damn.. O Yeah! Kurenai-Sensei may be over at the hospital waiting for Hinata and Kiba!_

With that train of though etched in his mind, Naruto made his way over to the hospital.

When Naruto got to the hospital. he went straight to the front desk, where a nurse was doing some paperwork.

"Excuse me nurse.." He said, "Would I be able to find Kurenai here?"

The nurse gave Naruto a sad smile and replied, "Yeah, you'll find her by the operation rooms. She's still waiting on Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba."

A question then came to Naruto's mind. "Um.. that reminds me, how are Kiba and Hinata doing?"

The nurse sadly replied. "Their condition is about the same as it was when Hokage-Samar and her apprentice left them two days ago.. We're still not sure if they're going to make it.."

Naruto turned away and walked towards the stairwell. "OK then... thank you nurse." And without waiting to hear a reply, made his way up the stairs. When he got to the operation rooms, he was none to surprised to find Kurenai sitting as still as a statue, hunched over, looking sadly at a certain spot on the ground, as though something down there had caught her interest, however, all there was, was tile.

Naruto silently made his way to the bench across from her and sat down. Kurenai still hadn't noticed his presence, and continued to stare down at the floor. Naruto sat there in silence with her for a while, before he made his presence known. "So... how are they doing?"

Kurenai, not knowing that Naruto had been there, quickly raised her head to meet the boys gaze, and then let her head hang down again. "Same as they were two days ago... I'm really scared that I'm going to lose them too.."

Naruto's face fell, and he sat in silence for a minute, contemplating Kurenai's words. Naruto then let his trademark grin slide on to his face. "Don't say things like that, those two are really strong ninjas, they'll definitely make it! just you wait and see!"

Kurenai once again brought her eyes to meet Naruto. She let a small smile grace her face. "I sure hope your right Naruto.." She then bowed her head down again. "However, I get the feeling that you didn't come here simply to talk about such sad things, Why were you looking for me?"

Naruto took his turn to let his head hang down and look to the floor. "Well, I've been told that I should find someone to help me with my genjutsu.."

Kurenai finished his sentence for him. "..and you came to the conclusion that I would be the best person to teach you. Right?"

Naruto nodded his head from side to side. "No.. Kakashi-Sensei came to the conclusion for me. He said that you were the best Genjutsu user in this village."

Kurenai gave out a big sigh and replied, "Well, he was certainly right on that one. Not to brag.." she looked up and smiled, "but I am definitely the best Genjutsu user in Konoha."

Naruto looked up at Kurenai and said, "Yeah.. I kind of hate to ask you this, with all you've gone through.. and your pregnancy, but I would like to ask you if you would train me to defend against Genjutsu, as I myself, can not use it?"

Kurenai looked towards the floor again. "With my pregnancy, I can't physical fight until I'm through with it, and even then, I have to take care of my child." Kurenai paused and continued. "I've already lost my husband, and I've lost one half of my first genin team.. I'm in a state of emotional shock now, I must admit..."

Naruto stood up and smiled. "Don't worry, Kurenai-Sensei.. you don't owe me any explanations.. I respect and understand that you can't train me." With that, Naruto, getting the feeling that she wanted to be alone, made his way to the stairwell.

"You're misunderstanding what I'm saying here.. Naruto." Naruto looked back to see Kurenai, still looking towards the floor. "I said.. that I can't fight right now, but.." Kurenai then faced towards Naruto. "That doesn't mean I can't and won't train you. So, I'll train you, on one condition."

Naruto nodded at her to continue. "I've lost Asuma.. Shino.. and even Akamaru. Even though he was a dog, I still thought of him as part of the team. Now, I might lose Kiba and Hinata as well. They've all fallen to members of that organization.. Akatsuki. Promise me, that if I train you, you'll finish off Akatsuki."

Naruto let his trademark smile once again plaster his face. "I definitely will Kurenai-Sensei, that's a promise!" Kurenai smiled at the boy. "And.. I won't go back on my words, because that's my way of the ninja!"

With those words, Kurenai got out a piece of paper and wrote down a few notes on it, and then tossed it to Naruto. "Alright then Naruto. Go to that address in one weeks time at 9:00am. Your training will begin then."

Naruto raised his hand and gave her the thumbs up. "Right, I'll be there!"

* * *

Naruto now found his way walking towards the Hokage Tower. 

_Flashback_

_Naruto had just pissed off Tsunade upon meeting her, and she challenged him to a fight._

_"I've been one of the three Legendary Ninja's" Tsunade stated, "I don't even need to be serious in this fight."_

_Naruto was irate. "Shut Up!"_

_Tsunade then raised her finger on her right hand. "One finger should be enough.."_

_End Flashback_

Naruto pumped up both fists and grinned. "I want that Super Strength of hers damnit!"

As he approached the Hokage Tower, Naruto could make out a figure leaving the Tower. Upon looking closer, he saw who it was and smiled._Well, I guess I was going to be looking for her later anyways, I guess this just saves time.._ Naruto then yelled out, "Hey Tenten! Over here"

Tenten looked over to where the voice was coming from and let a confused smile grace her face. She decided to make her way over to him and see what was up.

"Hey Naruto, it's been a while, what's up?"

Naruto smiled at her. "Nothing much really, but I was looking for you.. by the way, what were you doing over here?"

Tenten immediately replied. "Well, I was actually here just getting a mission for our team. We're probably going to be setting out tomorrow though. But that's besides the point. Why were you looking for me?"

Naruto also immediately replied to her question. "Straight to the point huh? Well, I'm looking for somebody to train me in Kenjutsu, and you're the first person who came to mind."

Tenten zoomed in on Naruto. "Is that so huh?" She then walked around him in a circle. "Uzumaki Naruto, the person who beat Neji in the Chuunin exams, wants little old me to train him to play with weapons?"

Naruto grinned at her. "Damn rights I do, your like, the Weapons Master! Besides, I need to get really good at using a sword."

Tenten looked at him in confusion. "A sword? I was under the impression that you only used shurikens and Kunai. Why do you want to get good with a sword."

Naruto changed his grin into a smirk. "Oh, I'll show you why, when we have our first training session. This is assuming you choose to train me."

Tenten's curiosity was at it's peak, but she didn't show it. "Well, I guessss I could show you how to use a sword.. besides, if you become Hokage, I'll be able to brag that I had a part in training you." She then let her own smirk grace her face. "We'll probably be gone for ten days with this mission. So meet me by the Forest of Death in ten days time to begin. We'll see you then Naruto." With that, she walked off.

Naruto had a dumbfounded look on his face after hearing her claims. Then he let the right corner of his mouth turn into a smirk. _If I become Hokage... More like when!_ Naruto then turned around and made his way to Tsunade's office.

Naruto walked up to her office and knocked on the door. Tsunade looked up from her work to see who was knocking, only to see Naruto letting himself in.

"Naruto!?" She exclaimed in surprise. "I thought that you'd be out training right now. What are you doing here?"

Naruto grinned and replied, "Surely.. you haven't forgotten about the training Kakashi-Sensei introduced me to. So technically, I am training right now."

Tsunade smiled at him and then said, "Alright, point taken. Still though, what brings you here?"

Naruto then replied. "Well, right now I'm looking to..." Naruto stopped abruptly when something caught his eye. "Tsunade Baa-Chan... what's that mark on your neck?" Naruto asked her with a smirk.

Tsunade blushed a deep red and pulled her green coat over her neck. Then she angrily answered him. "You.. you just mind your own business kid!"

Naruto still kept that all knowing smirk plastered on his face, but decided to let the embarrassment consume her. "I'm actually looking for someone to train me in Taijutsu. I decided that your Super Strength is fucking awesome, and I wanted to ask you to train me to use it!"

Tsunade collapsed back down into her chair. "It isn't that easy Naruto.."

Naruto then retorted to that statement. "Not that easy! I'm damn sure you could train me to use that awesome strength! What's not so easy about it!?!?"

Tsunade hardened her face and replied, "The strength that I have, requires extremely precise chakra control. It's simply a case of you not having that level of chakra control. Since that's the case, I can't train you in my style of Taijutsu."

Naruto had a retort ready for that as well. "But.. Sakura-Chan can use it, you trained her to use it, so why not me?"

Tsunade softened her face and smiled at him. "Sakura is the only person I've seen in this village, capable of that chakra control. Don't get me wrong, You have pretty damn good chakra control yourself. However, it's not enough. The only person in this village that had the ability to learn it was Sakura."

Naruto suddenly let a warm smile etch on his face. "Sakura-Chan.. damn.. she's one impressive ninja, that's for sure, there's so many thing's that she can do that I can't.."

Tsunade stood up and once again hardened her features. "While that's true, there's also many things that you can do that she can't." Naruto then looked up at her in surprise as she continued. "You have amazing command over ninjutsu, and you have an unmatched stamina. You have the ability to make the impossible possible. You also carry a disgusting amount of potential. You could possibly be the most powerful ninja that's ever existed! Your already ahead of your graduating class, including Sakura, by a large margin. Soon, you'll most likely be the most powerful in this village."

Naruto let that warm smile plaster his face again. "Heh, thanks for that Tsunade-Baa-Chan, really.." He then paused before continuing. "However, I wasn't saying that in jealousy.. I'm just marveled at how talented she is."

Tsunade walked back behind her desk, plopped down in her chair, and also smiled warmly at Naruto. "I get the feeling that your marveled with her in ways other than her ninja ability.."

Naruto thought on those words and replied, "I don't know what my feelings for her are anymore, I'm pretty confused about what I feel for her myself. However, I think she'll always hold her love for Sasuke.. all I know is that my reasons for getting him back are mainly for her sake. I still see Sasuke as a brother.. but, that was so long ago. He's changed, a lot. But that doesn't matter. I made a promise to Sakura-Chan, and I don't plan on breaking it.. especially a promise made to her.. So I'll bring him back, even if I have to break him to do so. Then, I'll change him back into the Sasuke from three years ago."

Tsunade smiled at him and turned her back towards him and faced outside. "All I can say Naruto, is that feelings change over time. I know that now, first hand actually. Maybe Sakura doesn't love him anymore."

Naruto looked up at her in confusion, waiting for her to say more. "That's besides the point though, I can't train you to use my strength. You should find somebody else."

Naruto stood up and walked towards the door. "Don't worry about it Tsunade, I had someone else to fall back on.. though, I would've rather avoided it...and... I'll take what you just said about feelings.. I'll take that into consideration.. we'll see you later Tsunade Baa-Chan.

Tsunade turned around and replied. "Good luck with your training, Naruto." Then she silently said to herself "amongst other things.."

* * *

Naruto had been walking the village for hours now, in search for the person he wanted to have train him in Taijutsu, but was having no luck what so ever. He had looked at every inch of the village. This guy was one of the most elusive people he had ever had the hopes of finding. The sun was beginning to set and he was beginning to lose hope in finding him. 

_God damnit, I've been searching for so god damn long. This better be worth it!_

And, as if on cue, he heard the voice he was looking for ring out. "Lee-Kun, we have only completed five hundred laps around the village, we still have another fifteen hundred laps to go."

He then heard his protege answer him with three simple words. "Yes! Gai-Sensei!"

Naruto sweat dropped at the scary enthusiasm those two displayed. _looks like I finally found him._ Naruto then yelled out to make his presence known. "Hey Gai-Sensei! Lee! Wait up!

Both Gai and Lee turned towards Naruto as he walked over to them. Gai then began the conversation, Smiling in his patent way. "Oh, it's Naruto-kun. Do you want to join in on our youthful warm up exercises?"

Lee ran up to Naruto. "Please join us, Naruto-Kun, and bask in the glory that is my Sensei, Gai-Sensei!" He also flashed his patent smile.

Naruto looked at the pair like they were crazy, and then waved his hands in front of him. "No, no, it's nothing like that, I just wanted to ask you something Gai.

Gai looked at Naruto with a dumbfounded look, but recovered his features back into his smile. "Well, if you don't want to join us in our warm up, what is it that Naruto-Kun, the student of my eternal rival, Kakashi, would want of me?"

Naruto was taken aback by his attitude once again. _Suddenly... I'm not so sure about this.. _However, Naruto decided to go through with it. "I'm looking for someone to train me in Taijutsu.. and, I wanted to ask you to train me in your Taijutsu style.. so, could you train me?"

He looked at Gai, but he had gone into his own little world with Rock Lee.

"Lee, do you know what this means?"

"What does this mean, Gai-Sensei?"

"A student of my eternal rival, Kakashi, has come to ask me to train him!"

"Who wouldn't come to you to accept training for someone as proud and youthful as you, Gai-Sensei?"

"Your point is well taken, Lee. Who wouldn't choose me over my eternal rival, Kakashi?"

"There is no one as great as you, Gai-Sensei!"

"No, there isn't, but you are following in the footsteps of I, Konoha's Noble Blue Beast, Maito Gai!"

"You honor me too much, Gai-Sensei!"

"Maybe so, but we now have a new task. We must guide young Naruto-Kun towards the setting sun!"

"Yes, Gai-Sensei!"

Naruto looked on with a look of annoyance. The two of them both were facing away from him and looking at the sun. _Those two are so weird. _Naruto then turned around and began to walk away. "Well, if you two are going to watch the sun, I'm going to go ask Kakashi-Sensei to train me instead."

Those words woke up the two unique ninja, and they immediately turned around. Gai then pleaded in desperation. "Wait, Naruto-kun, come back here, please, we were just getting back to answering you!"

Naruto looked around at the pair with an annoyed face. "So then, what's your answer?" He already knew the answer though.

Gai regained his features and put his hand to his chin. "After long and careful thought, I, Maito Gai, have decided to train you in the art of Taijutsu."

Naruto grinned at Lee and Gai. "Ha, thanks a lot Gai. When do you want to begin?"

Gai once again let his trademark smile grace his face. "We shall begin your training... NOW!"

Naruto fell over when Gai had answered him. He stood up and waved his hands in front of him. "Right now!? I can't right now, I'm supposed to... go talk to the Hokage! Yeah, that's it! I got to go see Tsunade Baa-Chan."

Gai frowned upon this statement. "Very well then Naruto-Kun. We shall begin your training when we come back from a mission we have received. We shall see you at 6am, in ten days time, at this very spot."

Naruto waved to them and walked away. "Alright then, we'll see you two later then." With that, Naruto made his way to go and check on and dispel his clones that he had left to train.

Lee returned his wave and replied. "We shall see you in ten days time, Naruto-kun."

Gai, however, had dug into his bag for something. And then he made one more statement. "Naruto-kun, I will only train you on one condition..."

Naruto looked back in their direction only to see an all too familiar green spandex cloth flung at him. Naruto caught the piece of spandex and looked at it in horror. He then turned his attention to Gai and Lee, who had their smiles plastered across their faces. "Oh god.. you have got to be fucking kidding me.."

**

* * *

Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu** - Multiple Shadow Clone Technique 

**Author Notes - **Wow.. um that really didn't take as long as I was expecting it to. That's besides the point I guess. That ends chapter 4. I'm guessing a lot of people could've guessed that I would have Kurenai and Gai train Naruto in Genjutsu and Taijutsu respectively, however, I think I might've surprised most people in having Tenten to train Naruto in Kenjutsu. I also wanted to note that I didn't have Naruto succeed in finding people right off the bat. Heck, 2 of his 3 first attempts were given a "no" answer. I hope I'm giving enough clues to NaruSaku. I'm not going to rush it, so I'm trying to put in little bits that eventually lead up to it. So, I hope I'm doing at least a decent job in that. Also, added a bit of fallback from Team Snakes point of view. You'll probably see more fallback as we go on. I also hope that the Gai and Lee conversation wasn't confusing to anybody. In fact, you'll notice that Lee always says 2 certain words each time he's talking to Gai, so I don't think there should be TOO much confusion. Anyways, next chapter, a special occurrence happens to Naruto. What that is, I won't say, you'll have to tune in to the next chapter. Take a guess, if you like. I look forward to reading your reviews. I'm sure the reviewers have noticed I reply to each and every one. So, until next time.


	7. Inheritance

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**

**Author Notes - **Hope you're all enjoying the story so far, and now, it's time for Chapter 7. We now know pretty much everything about Naruto's training. We know about the "Gravities Effect" training, we know that he'll be receiving Taijutsu training from Gai, Genjutsu training from Kurenai, and Kenjutsu training from Tenten. The only thing we don't know yet is what Jiraiya is going to be teaching him. We'll find that out in this chapter. But it won't be the main focus. No, in this chapter, something special happen to Naruto, and that, is going to be the main focus of this chapter. What that is, you'll just have to find out for yourselves. By the way, with this thing. When the chapter starts going into it, it'll look like it's taking an all to familiar course, and if you don't like it when that course happens, I urge you to keep reading until the end of the chapter and decide for yourselves. When I finish writing this chapter, I will discontinue voting for Kiba and Hinata's survival the day after this is posted at midnight. I will then tally the votes up, and adjust my story accordingly to fit into what the votes decide. I'm also pretty sure you all got my "less than subtle" hint concerning Jiraiya and Tsunade. Well, I began that because of what was said on chapter 380 page 6 of the manga. I've also decided, that chances are, I will be writing a lemon when the time comes. Anyways, I do believe that is all I have to say to you now, so, on with Chapter 7.

_this font is for thoughts_

_this font is for flashbacks_

**this font is for jutsus and techniques**

**this font is for kyuubi**

**

* * *

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Chapter 7: Inheritance 

"God damnit!!"

Naruto once again had woken up to his alarm clock, at 6am, for the fifth day in a row. Naruto was becoming irritated with his alarm clock. This morning he had finally lost control over his will to not completely obliterate his alarm clock.

Naruto grabbed for his alarm clock and gave it a piercing glare. "You god damn stupid thing, let me sleep for once already." As if on cue, the alarm clock began to blare off once more, having gone through the ten minute wait period after hitting the snooze button. "Argh, that does it!" Naruto chucked his alarm clock to the corner of the room, and made for the Kubigiri-Houchou. "Yeah, this is what you get for being so GOD DAMN ANNOYING!" With that, Naruto dragged the humongous sword with him to where the alarm clock lay, and made to continually bash the alarm clock in until it was nothing but bolts and wires.

Naruto stood there for a few minutes, breathing extremely hard. It wouldn't have been so bad, but due to "Gravities Effect" being active, wielding the sword had caused a lot more strain on him than it would have. That and the fact that he was trying to slowly calm himself from his rage.

"Fuck!" He swore rather loudly. He dropped his grip on the sword and let it fall to the ground. _Damn.. I shouldn't have don't that, now I'm going to be needing to buy myself another alarm clock._ With those thoughts on his mind, Naruto sluggishly made his way to his bathroom to begin his morning routine. _I should hurry, I'm supposed to meet Jiraiya at the training area in about a half hour to begin the training he has for me.._

Naruto did his morning routine, grabbed his ninjutsu scroll, slung it over his shoulder, and made his way to the training grounds. As he walked away from his apartment, a figure appeared from around the corner, and proceeded to make way to Naruto's dwelling.

* * *

When Naruto got to his training grounds, he noticed that Jiraiya wasn't there yet, and so, Naruto decided to do a quick warm up.

**Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu**

For the fourth time in as many days, one thousand Naruto clones appeared all over the field. They all looked to Naruto, waiting for their orders. The clones had become used to this, and now without hesitation, were listening to Naruto as soon as they were summoned.

"All right you guys, we're going to go with the routine warm up here. We're going to keep going until Jiraiya gets here to train us!" The clones all nodded their heads, and began to start jogging around the field, and when the last clone had taken off, Naruto followed them. He had noticed that with the clones training, he got used to "Gravities Effect" a whole lot easier. He had thought that they would only pass knowledge in the ninja styles, but was proved wrong when he had dispelled him the first day. When he had dispelled them, he felt a whole lot lighter than he had the whole day. So, he always summoned them everyday, and had them do warm-ups now before they went to training on the ninjutsu, because it helped Naruto get used to the effect's of the technique a lot faster.

Naruto was able to go at a jog quite easily now after five days. Jiraiya had said he was impressed Naruto had gotten the hang of it so soon. He said it took Minato about two times longer than it had taken Naruto to get to the stage of jogging. Naruto smiled at the thoughts. He was glad that he was still managing to stay ahead of his Dad. He could only thank the fact that he had such as high chakra as to make as many clones as he could. It made everything so much faster for him.

After doing about ten laps around the huge field, Jiraiya finally appeared on one of his frog summons. The noise of his arrival had alerted all of the Naruto's to his presence, and they all immediately stampeded slowly towards Jiraiya. The real Naruto had tried to keep order with little success, and was now face down on the ground being trampled by himself. Jiraiya looked at the stampede in horror and was preparing to take off. However, the Naruto's quickly surrounded his position and look at him with eager eyes. Jiraiya had never disappointed Naruto with training before, and Naruto was counting on that fact.

The real Naruto walked through the crowd and made his way to the front of the pack. "Sorry about the greeting Ero-Sennin," he muttered, "How are you doing today?"

Jiraiya grimaced at him and replied, "Ah, not bad, not bad. Clones gave me a bit of a scare though."

Naruto smiled up at Jiraiya, and then turned that into a grin. "So then Ero-Sennin, what are you going to train us to do?" Naruto pumped up both fists excitedly, waiting for Jiraiya's answer to his question.

"Well.." Jiraiya said, "Before I tell you, could you at least dispel your clones first?"

Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, sorry Ero-Sennin," he exclaimed, and then without hesitation, dispelled the clones.

Jiraiya mimicked him, and dispelled his toad, hoping off of it in front of Naruto at the same time. Then, Jiraiya began to lecture. "Well then, I'm going to teach you yet another variation of the Rasengan."

Naruto pouted on that. "Another one??" He exclaimed, emphasizing the word 'another.' But I already know three versions of the Rasengan, isn't that enough?"

Jiraiya then waved his hand at Naruto. "Actually, you know three, but can only use two." Naruto's face fell at this comment. Jiraiya, noticing this, decided to address it. "Well, we both know that in your current shape, you can't use the Rasen Shuriken, however, 'Gravities Effect' improves your physical abilities. This you already know. But it also serves to toughen up your outer and inner body. At the end of three months, I think that you should be able to use the Rasen Shuriken safely again."

Naruto was extremely stoked to hear this, and he made no attempt to hide it, as he began to try and run around and wave his arms around. However, due to 'Gravities Effect,' Naruto fell down on the spot for running around to fast, earning a laugh from Jiraiya and a groan from Naruto. The fact that he would be able to use the Rasen Shuriken, one of his most deadly attacks, made him grin widely, as it made him that much more formidable.

Jiraiya then coughed loudly, awakening Naruto from his thoughts. Naruto made his way back to Jiraiya. "But then, if I'm going to be able to use the Rasen Shuriken again, why do I need to learn another variation?"

Jiraiya immediately answered him. "Well, this version of the Rasengan is extremely powerful. It isn't quite as strong as the Rasen Shuriken, but it's close." He exclaimed. "Also, with this new variation, you should be able to meld the properties of the Rasen Shuriken into this variation, making it an extremely devastating attack."

Naruto's eyes were as wide as dinner plates now, imagining the effects that this jutsu would bring. This in turn encouraged a thin line of drool to go down his chin. Jiraiya noticed this and frowned. He raised his hand and smacked Naruto awake. "Hey kid, I'm not done yet, so pay attention!" Naruto solemnly nodded at him and Jiraiya continued. "So then, going back to the basics, I believe that I've taught you the Rasengan. Would you please show me?"

Naruto smirked and summoned a clone, preparing to begin the Rasengan. "Now, wait there Naruto." Naruto looked up in confusion, and Jiraiya continued. "Gravities Effect, as you already know, extends your abilities in every way possible. I would like you to try and form the Rasengan on your own."

Naruto frowned at him, but nodded his head and dispelled the clone obediently. He then tried to form the Rasengan by himself. He grinded his teeth and tried his best to form chakra in his palm, but it was to no avail, he was having too much trouble trying to form the Rasengan on his own.

Jiraiya smirked and gave a small laugh. "Well then, I suppose that will be what we're teaching you today. I want you to continue working on forming the Rasengan on your own. When you have done that, we can move on to the next step."

Naruto looked at Jiraiya with rage. "Why do I have to learn it without my clones, it worked fine before, so why must I change it?"

Jiraiya immediately replied. "In order for me to be able to teach you this next technique, you need to be able to do the variations of the Rasengan on your own. There won't be any room for you to be able to summon a clone for the Rasengan I will be teaching you."

Naruto's face fell a bit upon hearing that, but screwed up his facial features to give off a look of determination. "Alright then Ero-Sennin, I'll be done this before dinner time comes around." With those words, he smirked at Jiraiya, and began to work on creating the Rasengan on his own.

Jiraiya looked at him with a look of pride. The fact that he was extremely determined to become the best he can be, and go through whatever it took to do it, just made Jiraiya admire the kid all that much more. He turned around and then spoke. "I'll be sitting on that tree over there," he said, pointing towards a tree situated just a little ways off where they were, "if you need any help with anything." With those words, Jiraiya walked over to the tree and sat down, watching all of Naruto's attempts.

After about an hour of failed attempts on Naruto's part, he became frustrated at his lack of progress. He had gotten to the last stage of the original Rasengan training, but made absolutely no head way from there.

_God damn, this is taking way to long, I have more important things to train on, and I want to get to Jiraiya's super awesome new technique he has. I've got to make this faster._

Naruto smirked, and brought his hands together.

**Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu**

For the second time that day, one thousand Naruto's appeared. The sound of the clones popping up woke Jiraiya up from a slumber, and Jiraiya began to berate his student.

"Hey Naruto!" He yelled, "I thought I said no clones helping you form the Rasengan!"

Naruto simply waved him off and then spoke to his fellow selves. "Alright you guys, We have to create the Rasengan!" This announcement caused a lot of depressed and angry moans from the crowd of clones. "God damn, we already know how to do the Rasengan, let's learn something new." Another one readily agreed. "Yeah, let's learn different jutsu, your so boring Naruto!"

The real Naruto's face squinted more and more as more insults were thrown his way, and then he finally said, "OK then, form a Rasengan." The Naruto's began to pair off, getting ready to easily form the Rasengan. "Hold, right there you guys!" The Naruto's looked at him in confusion, and Naruto smiled Triumphantly. "Do it on your own, no help from another one of me, but do it on your own!"

The Naruto's then began to get angry. "By ourselves!?!? What do you mean by that, there's nothing wrong with help from another!"

Naruto then looked extremely bored at their rant. "Ero-Sennin over there says that we need to be able to do it by ourselves, in order to move on to what he needs to teach us.." With that the Naruto's turned their attention away from Naruto, and they all glared menacingly at Jiraiya. An awkward silence ensued as the Naruto's continued to glare at Jiraiya. Jiraiya looked extremely nervous and prepared himself to bolt in the case of the clones staging a mass revolt on him.

The Naruto's began to walk slowly towards Jiraiya, and in turn, Jiraiya back off, looking extremely scared. However, he back up into a solid object. He turned around to find himself face to face with another Naruto clone. Jiraiya was wondering how the hell he got there so fast. He backed away from that clone, only to back up into another one. He backed a little ways off that one, only to find that he was now hopelessly surrounded by the hundred's of Naruto clones with no possible escape.

"Such trivial things!" one of the clones said. "Are not worth our time!" said another clone. With those words, the clones advanced on the Frog Hermit.

* * *

"Pein."

Pein had been looking over the Hidden Village of Amegakure, with a bored expression on his face. However, if you looked closely, you would be able to see a look of anxiousness as well. He appeared to be waiting for something to happen.

"Pein."

He was also contemplating something. Ever since his encounter with the Sannin, he had begun to prepare himself. He had lost two of himself to the Sannin, and he needed to replace those two in a hurry. He already had the two perfect candidates in mind..

"Pein, it's time."

Pein finally awoke from his thoughts, and looked behind him to see his accomplice, Konan, standing behind him. her face was rigged, showing no emotion, as was his.

"Did they capture it then?" Pein asked her.

Konan bowed in his direction and replied. "Yes.. Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame have subdued and secured the eighth Jinchuuriki, she said, "We've got him prepared for extraction, all of the members of Akatsuki are required."

Pein looked away from her into the distance. "Good... go to your spot and meet them. I'll go to mine and meet you all there."

Konan once again bowed at Pein. "Alright, we'll see you there Pein." With those words, she walked away from him.

Pein stood still for a few moments, and then made his way to one of the rooftops of the village. He then brought his hands together, and was in an all to familiar dwelling. He looked below him to find the body of a near dead person. "Is this him then?"

Itachi and Kisame both nodded in confirmation, and so Pein continued. "Before we begin the extraction, let it be known that Deidera is back with us, and will be helping us capture the final Jinchuuriki."

The members of Akatsuki all looked towards Deidera, who let off a rather evil smile. "Damn rights I will, and you guys better not get in my way, hmmph."

Pein then spoke up once again. "You will need to be working together to capture the vessel.. now, let us begin the extraction."

* * *

The Naruto clones were now all working hard to form the Rasengan by themselves. However, Jiraiya was at the base of a tree in a heap, bruises all over his body and lumps on his head. It had been three hours since Naruto had summoned the clones to help, and he was making a lot of head way. He had a lot of power in his Rasengan, but not quite what it could be.

However, after each attempt, Naruto improved it a little bit each time, as he gained knowledge from each attempt. When 3pm finally rolled around, One of the Naruto clones shouted "I did it! I made a complete Rasengan on my own!" All of the Naruto's then began to also yell the same thing. Since one had completed it, the knowledge was gained, and every Naruto now knew the process of making a Rasengan on their own.

Jiraiya, while still injured, had been watching Naruto's progress, and was quite amazed that Naruto had completed the jutsu so quickly. He smiled, and walked over towards the pack of Naruto's. "Alright then, looks like your done?" Naruto nodded in confirmation. "Alright then, dispel your clones, so I can talk about the next part of the training."

Naruto nodded for a second time, and in turn, dispelled the clones. Naruto then made his way over to Jiraiya. "Alright then, so now what do you want me to do?" he asked.

Jiraiya smiled at Naruto and began. "Alright then, so now that you can do the Rasengan with one hand, I think it's time..." Jiraiya then noticed a figure approaching from the corner of his eye. The Sannin then turned to face her. "Oh? Hey there Tsunade." He exclaimed, "What brings you out here?"

Tsunade walked up to the pair and smiled at Naruto before turning to Jiraiya. "Finally finished now... it's ready."

Jiraiya gave Tsunade an all knowing smile, which Tsunade returned. Naruto simply looked at the pair in confusion. "Um, what are you two talking about??" He then turned at Tsunade and smirked. "This wouldn't have to do with that mark on your neck would it?"

Jiraiya closed his eyes and smirked at that comment, while Tsunade made a move and knocked Naruto to the ground. "Damnit kid! That's none of your business!" She shouted, her face a few inches from his ear. Naruto wasn't listening though, as he was concentrating on the pain Tsunade had brought to his world.

Jiraiya then turned to Naruto. "No, it's not concerning the bite mark I gave her.." Tsunade immediately beat him to the ground before he could continue. "Damnit Jiraiya, it's not his business!" She turned over to Naruto, who was giving her an eye piercing gaze.

"So, you admit that it was Ero-Sennin then, eh Baa-Chan?"

Tsunade blushed a deep crimson and replied. "Just drop it already, I'm not here to talk about that."

Jiraiya had now stood up and regained his composure. "No, but it still means that we're ending the training session early today." Tsunade shot him a dangerous glare. "So, I suppose we should head back to the village then?"

Tsunade nodded her head, and the two Sannin made their way back towards the village. Naruto looked at them with a dumbfounded expression on his face, as they made off without even regarding him. He was about to go on a rant, but then Tsunade turned around. "Are you coming Naruto? This all has to do with you ya know."

Naruto looked at her with a confused face, and simply answered "Huh?"

Jiraiya now mimicked Tsunade and turned back. "We're not going to wait for you all day ya know, hurry up, there's something you need to see."

Naruto nodded his head, and caught up with the two Sannin.The trio made their way through town. The three of the merely walked on, looking straight ahead. The citizens of town however, turned their gazes to watch the three of them pass by. Even though they lived in the village, it wasn't everyday that two of the Sannin walked together. As they passed the Ichiraku Ramen stand, two familiar faces were making their way away from there, having just finished their meals.

"Sakura-Chan, Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, upon hearing them, "How goes the training?"

Sakura smiled at him as well as Kakashi, but it was he who answered. "It's going fine so far, she's doing a lot better than I expected, so I should have no trouble in keeping that promise to you, Naruto."

Naruto flashed a foxy grin there way, and began to make his way back to Jiraiya and Tsunade. "That's great Kakashi-Sensei, but I don't got time to chat, Jiraiya and Tsunade are taking me somewhere."

Sakura immediately asked, "Where are they taking you?"

Naruto's grin grew even wider. "I have no idea what so ever, I'm just following them!"

It was in that moment, that Jiraiya and Tsunade looked back to see why Naruto wasn't keeping pace. They looked at him and warmly smiled as he was talking with two of his closest companions. Tsunade looked up at Jiraiya, and Jiraiya simply nodded his head in her direction.

Tsunade walked up behind Naruto, and Sakura and Kakashi looked towards her. Naruto then turned back to see Tsunade standing point blank behind him. Then Tsunade spoke. "You guys want to come along?"

Sakura and Kakashi both looked at each other, seemingly looking to the other to answer the question. They both nodded their heads to each other, and then turned back to Tsunade. Kakashi spoke. "Sure, we can take a little while longer off. We'll come."

Tsunade smiled warmly and walked back up to Jiraiya. Naruto fell back with Sakura and Kakashi. "So Sakura-Chan, have you learned any Water techniques yet?"

Sakura looked to him and nodded her head in the negative. "Not yet Naruto, Kakashi simply has me trying to get used to elemental composition. There's a lot of meditation that he has involved so far."

Naruto smiled at her and looked forward. "How's your training going so far Naruto?"

Naruto looked back at her and grinned. "It's going great so far, it's really tough, but it'll definitely be worth it."

Sakura smiled warmly at him and simply replied. "That's great, Naruto." Naruto turned away to look on forward again, but Sakura kept her gaze upon Naruto. His determination to succeed no matter what, she found to be somewhat inspiring. He was already powerful before he started the training, hell, even Kakashi had told Naruto that they were equals, and Kakashi was someone she found to be very powerful, most likely the third most powerful in the village behind the Sannin. The fact that Naruto was considered to be at his level already made him one of the elite ninja in the village, she could only imagine how strong he would be when the three months had past. _You've become very strong Naruto... I already knew it when you came back to the village, but I never really understood how much... you're so much stronger than I am in many ways..._ _and your going to be extremely powerful very soon.._

They had soon entered a rather secluded part of the village. Tree's dotted the sidewalk. They walked through the silent area for a few minutes, and they finally came upon a common looking house. It was one floor, but it was extremely wide, and it took up a lot of space. The walls were of the Shogi Screen variety and the roof was tiled off in black.

They walked up towards the house, and went around the back. In the back, there was a small pond that was on the side of the stone tiled walkway. Keeping the water in was also specially chosen stones. Trees were also hanging over the pond, the occasional leaf falling in. Tons of wildlife also consumed the back area, giving off a serene type of feeling.

The group then walked into the house to take a look around. The dwelling had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, and a huge main room for the house. Naruto looked around in awe, as he had never been in a place this big, besides the Hokage Tower. Actually, the only four places he had been were his apartment, as well as the apartments of Kakashi and Sakura, and the Hokage Tower, so there wasn't very much to compare to.

Naruto then spoke up. "Well, this is a very nice place and all, but what are we doing.." Naruto then cut himself off as he noticed something familiar. He walked into the master bedroom, and on the king sized bed in the middle of the room, was his sword, the Kubigiri-Houchou. "Um, Tsunade-Baa-Chan.. what's my sword doing here?" Then as he went around the house once again, he noticed that all of his stuff from his apartment had been moved into the home. "And... what is all of my stuff doing here..?"

Tsunade simply smiled at Naruto, and answered him. "Well, that would be, because this is your new home, if you'll have it.."

Naruto's eyes widened at this. "My...home..? But someone else must have lived here surely, you didn't have to kick them out for my sake.."

Jiraiya smiled at him. "I would only expect such generosity from you. However, we didn't kick anyone out of here."

Tsunade then continued for him. "But you were right about somebody else living here before."

Naruto looked to Tsunade and asked, "so then... who lived here before?"

Tsunade hesitated, but Jiraiya nodded for her to go ahead. "This is the house in which The Yondaime and Uzumaki Kushina lived, or in other words, your parents."

Naruto's eyes widened at this, and he once again began to look around the house in wonder. Tsunade then continued. "Well, you don't have to live here if you don't want to... I know it's not much, but I figured it was better than that drabby apartment.."

Naruto then yelled, "Are you fricken kidding me!?!? This place is fucking awesome!! I'll definitely move in here, thanks a lot Tsunade Baa-Chan, Ero-Sennin!!"

Jiraiya then chose a spot and sat down. "It's only a normal house.. and yet he had such an ecstatic reaction, it really isn't that much... plus.. this place is rightfully his anyways. He should've been allowed to live here instead of that apartment."

Kakashi nodded in agreement to his words. Tsunade then said, "Well, the only person who could answer the question as to why he couldn't live here.. would have been The Third."

Kakashi and Jiraiya both nodded at her comment, and Tsunade turned her attention to Sakura. "What are your thoughts Saku.." She cut herself off when she noticed what Sakura was doing. She really wasn't doing much at all. She was standing extremely still, watching Naruto as he bounded around the dwelling in happiness. Sakura had a warm smile spread across her face, along with a far-off look in her emerald like eyes.

Tsunade looked in Sakura's direction, and a knowing smile formed on her face. Without taking her gaze off of Sakura, she spoke. "Look at that, would you... it's only a matter of time now, don't you think?" She then turned to Kakashi and Jiraiya for their answers.

Jiraiya simply grinned and nodded his head. Kakashi looked in Sakura's direction, also taking note of what she was doing. He then nodded his head as well. "Yeah... there's no doubt about it now.."

Tsunade replied, "Just don't push them towards it, let them find out for themselves.." Tsunade then turned back to Sakura and walked to her position. She lightly tapped her on her shoulder, which in turn, woke her up from her own little world. She jumped up, a little startled from the awakening, but then turned around to see Tsunade standing behind her.

"Oh um.. hey Tsunade-Sama. What is it?" Tsunade simply smiled at Sakura, not answering her. Sakura felt herself going a bit red, but quickly recovered. "Oh, Kakashi-Sensei? We should get back to training, shouldn't we?"

Kakashi nodded his head and made to reply, but Sakura cut him off. "OK then, let's get back to it." She then made her way to the front door.

Naruto was still looking around the house, and as Sakura was stepping out, he noticed her heading out with Kakashi. "Oh.. are you guys leaving so soon?"

Sakura stopped at the sound of his voice. She had forgotten to even say good bye to Naruto before she left. She turned around and let a warm smile consume her face. "Yeah.. we've got to get back to training. We'll see you later Naruto.. and.. congratulations on the new house, I.. hope you like it."

Naruto gave her a foxy grin and replied. "Damn rights I like it, we'll see you later Sakura-Chan." With that, Sakura and Kakashi made their way out of the house. "Oh, and we'll see you later as well Kakashi."

Kakashi turned around and gave Naruto an annoyed look behind his mask. He turned it into a smile however. "We'll talk to you later, Naruto," and then, Kakashi made his way out, following Sakura.

Naruto watched the two of them leave, and then he turned back to Jiraiya and Tsunade, who were both watching him with big smiles plastered on their faces. "So... how exactly did all of my stuff get here anyways?" Naruto asked.

Tsunade grinned and pointed to herself. "That would be me.. and Shizune as well. When you left your house this morning, I snuck into your house and brought all of your belongings over here, and then Shizune and myself organized everything."

Naruto frowned at her. "You went into my apartment without my knowing... you could've just asked me ya know."

Tsunade continued to grin at him. "Well, we wanted this to be a surprise. Judging from your reaction, we definitely accomplished that!"

Naruto smiled warmly at Tsunade. "Thanks.. Tsunade-Baa-Chan."

Tsunade warmly smiled at him, but didn't answer. Naruto looked up at her and saw the smile. That expression spoke more volumes to him than any answer that she could've given him.

Jiraiya then coughed rather loudly to have both Naruto and Tsunade bring their attention towards him. "Well Naruto.. I did say that we were done training for the day, but I was just assuming that you might want to get settled in. We can continue next week or now, it's your call kid."

Naruto smiled at Jiraiya. "Thanks Ero-Sennin.. I think I'd like to get settled in right now. Once I'm done that, I'll probably have my clones do some training from the scroll, and I'll probably go watch Kakashi-Sensei train Sakura-Chan.

Jiraiya and Tsunade both smiled and nodded at Naruto. "Well then.." Tsunade said, "we'll head out as well, you enjoy yourself now Naruto."

Naruto grinned. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." he stated, then he smirked at them. "You both just make sure YOU enjoy yourselves."

Tsunade's vein throbbed dangerously, and Jiraiya simply rubbed the back of his head and grinned. "Don't push your luck Naruto..!" Tsunade fumed.

Naruto waved his hands in front of him and backed off very nervously. "OK OK then.. god.. we'll see you both later then."

Tsunade and Jiraiya both stepped out of the house and waved back. "We'll see you later Naruto." With that, the two of them walked away from Naruto's new home. Naruto grinned and turned back to his new dwelling, and prepared to make it his own.

**

* * *

Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu** - Multiple Shadow Clone Technique 

**Rasen Shuriken** - Spiral Shuriken

**Rasengan **- Spiral Sphere

**Author Notes** - "And then, Naruto found a hidden trap door. He opened it and walked down. His eyes grew as wide as dinner plates. He was now looking at an underground 5 story mansion with 20 bedrooms, 30 bathrooms, 10 kitchens, and many huge rooms. This was complete with an Olympic size swimming pool and Hot Springs. On top of that, there was a huge area especially built for training. Naruto was in heaven, he would never have to leave here again! The first thing he noticed was a huge vault. He opened it, and found billions worth of yen!" Yeah... sorry, but no mansions or extreme riches, not in this fic xD. Naruto's parents never really struck me as "being loaded." when I saw them in the manga. Also, there's no mention of a Namikaze clan, or an Uzumaki clan for that matter. So, I decided simply to leave Naruto with an average, traditional style home. Better than that stuffy apartment he has anyways. Let's see now, what else do I have to say. Nothing much really, come to think of it. As you can tell, I've started Jiraiya's part of the training. It doesn't take a genius to see what I'm planning in regards to Jiraiya's training, but I won't say anything for those of you who don't see it. I also included a small Akatsuki part. They've caught the eighth Jinchuuriki, making Naruto the last one left. Also, what do you think Pein is up to now? That will be something to keep our eyes on ya? Also, just to re-iterate, once I post this chapter, The Kiba/Hinata voting ends the day after I post this. So better make your votes fast. Anyways, next chapter, more fun stuff!! Naruto begins training with the three people that were mentioned last chapter. Ohhh I bet we can't wait for that. (Bows head and nods in disappointment.) Anyways, I look forward to reading your reviews, and until next time.


	8. Mind, Body, and Blade

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**

**Author Notes - **And now... it's time for us to trudge on to chapter 8. In this chapter, Naruto will begin his Genjutsu, Kenjutsu, and Taijutsu training with his respective teachers in each. For a recap, Naruto has found out about the 4th being his Dad, and received training scrolls from him. Naruto has begun his special training, under the technique known as 'Gravities Effect.' This Technique is something he keeps on him all the time, and in the end, it will increase his speed, accuracy, and power in all of his abilities. He has also seeked out training in Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and Kenjutsu, from Gai, Kurenai, and Tenten respectively. Just last chapter, he begun training with Jiraiya, and he got a new house, which used to belong to his parents. This chapter.. I admit, is the one out of EVERY SINGLE CHAPTER I WILL WRITE that I look the least forward to. I think all of my chapters will be better than this one. So, in saying that, if you're able to take this chapter, you should be good to go with the rest of the fic. Kiba and Hinata death or survival voting is over, I have tallied my votes, and am integrating the result into the fic. Also, these training filler chapters, I'm guessing, that including this one, will span for five to six more chapters. I have things I can address in each, and so, I will do that, and then, the fun stuff will start. Anyhow, that's all I have to say for now, so.. on with Chapter 8.

_this font is for thoughts_

_this font is for flashbacks_

**this font is for jutsus and techniques**

**this font is for kyuubi**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Mind, Body, and Blade**

An extremely annoying sound filled the master bedroom in the silent house. It was immediately silenced though, as the fist of a blonde shinobi cleanly shattered the alarm clock. It now sat there, completely destroyed, and silent.

_I really need to stop going through alarm clocks like that.._

Naruto woke up, and rubbed his eyes with his hands. He glared dangerously at the mess that used to be his alarm clock, and slid his legs over his bed to stand up. He opened his mouth extremely wide and let out a humongous yawn, and then made his way to the bathroom. He liked this bathroom. It was a lot more spacious than his old one, and it was accompanied by a single person onsen. He had used it everyday before he went to sleep, in an effort to relax his body from the tedious training he was going through. However, since he was waking up, he needed to wake his body up instead of relaxing it. So, Naruto stepped into the shower. He enjoyed this shower a lot more as well. The water that hit him had a lot more force than the one in his old apartment, and he found that the water was more refreshing. After his shower, he made his way to his kitchen, and prepared some ramen. He had gulped that down rather quickly, and he now found himself sitting in his backyard, sitting in a bathrobe by the pond, and contemplating life in general.

_It's been eight days since I started training... I've gotten considerably far with 'Gravities Effect,' as I can now jog without stop. I've already mastered a couple techniques from the scroll, and I've started training with Jiraiya, though.. I've only trained with him one day, the day I got this house. I still have to train with Gai, Tenten and Kurenai../ Damnit that's right! I got to meet Kurenai in a couple hours to begin her training!_

Naruto woke himself up from his thoughts and made for his room as fast as he could go with 'Gravities Effect' still in effect. He quickly hopped into his regular Orange and Black jumpsuit, and made his way to his regular training field to get his clones started.

He made his way through the village with a huge grin on his face, and walking with somewhat of a strut. The citizens of Konoha looked around when he passed, noticing that he was in a particularly good mood that day for some reason.

The truth was, Naruto didn't have a real reason for being in a good mood, he was just in a real good mood for some reason. After a little while, Naruto finally made it to the field.

**Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu**

Naruto clones once again appeared in groups of one hundred, totaling one thousand, as always. There was never any shouting, discontent, or disorganization anymore. The Naruto's knew the routine. So once they appeared, they immediately filed around each other and began to run laps around the field, and Naruto, as always, followed them when the last one had taken off.

It had been about 7:30 in the morning when Naruto got out to the field, so he had his clones and himself run around the field at a constant pace for about an hour. When 8:30am rolled along, Naruto stopped the running, and the clones immediately filed one behind the other, and began to stretch out.

"Alright you guys, stretch out for about a half hour, then start where you left off on the scroll."

One of the Naruto's then shouted out, "Hey! What are you going to do then, you can't expect us to work our asses off while you chill back!"

Naruto ran up to the clone who spoke up and got in his face. "I'm not going to be chilling out while you guys work! I'm going to see Kurenai-Sensei for Genjutsu training!"

The clone pressed his face up to the real Naruto. "Ha! Nice try! But we're you, and we know that we can't do Genjutsu! Your trying to skip out on training, you bastard!"

Naruto backed off and waved his hands in front of him. "No no no, it's nothing like that..." His clones began to advance on him.. "I'm learning how to DEFEND against Genjutsu.. something that we really need help on.." He looked around and grinned nervously as the Naruto's contemplated his answer.

"We'll let you go..." one said.

"... for now." a clone beside him finished.

Naruto continued to grin nervously, and he made his way to Kurenai's as fast as he could, before the clones could re think their decision.

* * *

Naruto looked over the piece of scrap paper in his hand, and then looked up again. He was looking at an old and decrepit house, that looked virtually unlivable. Rats were gushing out from broken pieces of wood, and shingles were blowing off the house whenever the slightest breeze blew by.

_She can't live here.. hell, who could live here?_

"By the way Naruto, I don't live here." Naruto turned around in awe as Kurenai was now walking towards him. "How did I know you wonder? The fact that your jaw is hanging towards the ground kind of clued me in." She finished that statement off with a smile.

Naruto hung on her words for a moment, and then immediately reeled his jaw back in and grinned. "Yeah, this place kind of looked... unlivable. You'd have to be a complete nutcase to make home in this wreck."

Kurenai smiled warmly at Naruto, and then simply turned her attention to the beat up house. Kurenai continued to gaze there, losing herself to her own thoughts. "So..." Naruto started, "How are they doing?"

Kurenai, ripped from her thoughts from that statement, turned to face Naruto. A warm, understanding smile was plastered on his face as he looked to her for her answer. "I... don't know," she replied, "The day after you asked me for lessons, I left the hospital, I've occupied my thoughts with setting up a training schedule for you. It kind of hurts... thinking about what might happen to them.."

Naruto looked away from Kurenai, and took his turn to direct his attention to the abandoned house. He was in the same boat as Kurenai with this. He was completely occupying his mind with training, not only to make him stronger, but to take his mind off of his real life troubles. Naruto then answered her. "There's no need to worry about it, Kurenai-Sensei.." Naruto then turned to her with a grin. "They're probably waking up as we speak, ready to get back into life!"

Kurenai once again smiled warmly at Naruto with this statement, but before she could reply, Naruto once again spoke. "However, we should take our minds off of subjects like this, what do you have planned for me today?"

Kurenai took a double take at his sudden change in subject, but went along with it anyways. "Nothing much today, I was just planning on getting you to meditate." Naruto groaned loudly which only caused Kurenai to chuckle a little bit. This was the first time she had laughed since she had last seen Asuma. "And... I want you to meditate for two hours everyday for the next three days, in which I'll be wanting to meet you here again. That's when we'll start the real training."

Naruto then protested. "But why do I have to meditate?" he whined, "Why can't we just get started with the training nowwww?

Kurenai slightly smiled at his childishness, but explained none the less. "Meditation is simply a way to help strengthen your mind, not only that, but you can use meditation to enhance your five senses. It's imperative to have strong senses, in order to sense a genjutsu, so you can go about defending against it."

Naruto groaned, but she brought up a good point. He then sat down and began to meditate.

"Whoa whoa, don't be in such a rush there Naruto." Naruto looked up to see Kurenai standing directly over him. "I would think that you'd probably be able to find a more comfortable place than a dump like this."

Something immediately clicked in Naruto's mind. "I know the perfect place, shall we head over there now?"

Kurenai nodded positively in response. In turn, Naruto stood up, and Naruto and Kurenai both walked towards there destination. The trip was rather silent, as both didn't have very much to say. After a few minutes, they arrived at Naruto's home. Naruto then led her to his backyard. "This is a perfect spot and all Naruto, it's very calm and peaceful, but.. I don't think we should be trespassing on someone else's property."

Naruto then grinned widely at her. "We're not trespassing, this is my house. Moved in a few days ago." Kurenai was looking at Naruto with her jaw dropped towards the ground. "Oh and Kurenai-Sensei... you might want to pick up your mouth there."

Kurenai immediately realized her position with that remark, and took her turn to pick up her jaw. "This is.. a really nice place. It kicks the hell out of my apartment anyways.." She then turned towards the pond in awe.

"I suppose since your average ninja can't afford a place like this, it's kind of surprising... but," Naruto looked towards the house. "The only reason I have this place is because it used to be the Yondaimes. Even with Hokage salary, he was only able to afford a considerably normal house, when you compare it with the housing on your average person."

Kurenai awoke herself from her second stupor in as many minutes, and looked to Naruto again. "Yes.. well, we should get your meditation started. If you would, please, find a comfortable spot and sit down.

Naruto nodded at his Genjutsu teacher, and sat himself on the stone that was surrounding the pond. "OK then, I would now like you to cross your legs, and place both hands on your knees." Naruto did as he was told, placing his right hand on his right knee and his left hand on his left knee.

"I would like you to stay in this position and meditate for the next three hours. Then you can take an hour break, before resuming for another three hours." Kurenai stated, "I look forward to seeing you in three days time."

She made to leave, but then Naruto interrupted her. "Wait, I have other lessons to do that day, starting extremely early in the morning."

Kurenai smiled and turned away. "Then simply go by my place when you're done, I'll leave my address in your kitchen." With those words, Kurenai took off, leaving Naruto to meditate.

* * *

Pein watched as the extraction process was closing off. The spirit of the Bijuu finally manifested it's full self, and took it's place among the other seven Bijuu already captured. The former jinchuuriki fell lifelessly from the air into a pitiful heap.

Showing no emotion, Pein spoke up. "The process is complete.. the eighth Bijuu is now officially ours. The four other presiding Akatsuki members dropped their hands.

"Great!" Kisame exclaimed, "Now me and Itachi can get going on our own personal business."

Itachi smiled at the comment. "Don't get to hasty Kisame, Sasuke still needs time, plus.. there is still Akatsuki's business. Naruto-Kun is still out there."

Deidera made his way into the conversation. "There's no need to worry about the Kyuubi container, he's got nothing, hmmph."

Itachi looked over to Deidera, but Kisame is the one who spoke up. "This, coming from someone who got whipped by The container, Kakashi, and even Itachi's little brother Sasuke?"

Deidera formed his face to look angry and made to retort, however, Pein interrupted him. "I don't really care what you decide to do. There is only one thing required right now.." The members of the organization gave him his undivided attention. "Stay away from Konoha, and await for my next signal for another meeting, we will discuss strategy then"

The members nodded their heads, and disappeared without question. With Pein being the last person there, he also withdrew. He went back to reality, and looked over the village of Amegakure. He simply gazed for minutes on end, until a voice interrupted him.

"Pein." Pein looked back to see Konan standing behind him, her face stern. "Madara is here to see you, I suggest you hurry." Pein simply nodded at her message and slowly made his way back to the main tower.

* * *

"Gai-Sensei, why must we wait here, can we not get on with our training?"

"All in good time, my youthful student, but we must wait for Naruto-Kun to arrive!"

"Yes, Gai-Sensei."

_The meeting place just COINCIDENTALLY had to be right outside my house, they're so god damn loud!_ Naruto rolled over and looked at his alarm clock, which read 5am. _They said 6am... and here I've been thinking that that time was suicidal enough, but this is just fucking crazy!_

Naruto sleepily got himself out of bed and put on a bathrobe. He then made his way to the front door to greet the over-enthusiastic duo. He opened the door and looked at Gai and Lee with a tired expression on his face. "Hey you guys..." Gai and Lee looked over at Naruto with shock written all over their facial features. "You think you could keep it down a little more?"

Gai recovered first. "We had no idea that you lived over here, when did this happen?" Naruto made to answer but was interrupted by Gai again. "That is no matter, you are awake, so we can begin training now!"

Naruto groaned inwardly and 'sweat dropped.' He then looked back up at Gai and Lee. "Could I at least get ready first..?"

Gai put his chin on his hand and then stated, "Sure, I suppose that would not hurt, but hurry, we must begin our youthful training!" Gai then looked back up to see that Naruto had closed the door after he had heard the word "Sure."

Naruto took his time showering and making Ramen. He also got into his normal attire. After completing these three tasks. Naruto slowly made his way outside to begin his training with Maito Gai.

"Naruto-Kun!" Naruto looked up in shock, considering that Gai sounded very urgent in what he had to say. "You are not wearing the youthful outfit that I have given you. Why is that."

The gears in Naruto's brain whirred..

_Flashback_

_Tsunade and Jiraiya both stepped out of the house and waved back. "We'll see you later Naruto." With that, the two of them walked away from Naruto's new home. Naruto grinned and turned back to his new dwelling, and prepared to make it his own._

_He was about to begin on his bedroom, before a thought clicked in his mind. "Oh yeah, the green spandex..." Naruto went into his dresser, and sure enough, found the green Spandex. Naruto slung the fabric over his shoulder and made his way into the woods._

_Naruto quickly gathered firewood, and placed it in a pile, which lay in a small clearing. He then took the Green Spandex and laid it carefully over the pile of wood._

_Naruto smiled at his handy work, before forming hand seals and inhaling_

_**Katon: Endan**_

_Fire spewed from Naruto's mouth and engulfed the firewood, along with the green spandex. Naruto smirked triumphantly, and let the fire burn for a few minutes before putting it out._

_End Flashback_

"... and the house fire destroyed everything inside, I tried to get the outfit out, but I was too late, the flames utterly destroyed it.." Naruto finished, putting his head down in shame for effect.

Gai had listened to the story and become more horrified as Naruto continued about how the suit was destroyed. Gai put his face in his hands. "Damnit, I'm so sorry Naruto, that was my last one as well." Naruto faked depression, but inside, he was already beginning a party.

"I'm really sorry Gai, I looked forward to wearing that in training.."

"That's alright, Naruto-Kun! We shall begin your training regardless."

Naruto looked up grinning at Gai now. "Awesome, I can't wait to get started, what are we going to start with then, I can't wait to get better with my Taijutsu!"

Gai smiled confidently. "Now, now, don't get hasty, there will be plenty of fighting to go around, but first, we must warm up!" Naruto looked at Gai, confused, waiting for him to continue. "Five-Hundred Laps around Konoha! Let us begin!"

_Oh piss off_

* * *

Naruto ran by his house for what seemed to be the one-thousandth time. He was absolutely drained. Running constantly around Konoha with 'Gravities Effect' on was killing him. The bright side of it was that he was now able to run faster with it on than before, and that on his first lap, he had taken a slightly longer route and got his clones set up. But it still didn't stop him from being ready to collapse.

"Naruto-Kun, you've only done two hundred laps in three, I am very disappointed!" Naruto looked up to Gai, preparing for what he was going to say. "Your punishment, will be running one hundred more laps of shame around Konoha." Naruto groaned loudly.

"Lee, I am very proud of you, you did five hundred laps in three hours." Lee pumped up his fists and looked at his Sensei. "Now, go forth Lee, and run five hundred laps of victory!"

Rock Lee jumped up in excitement. "Thank you, Gai Sensei."

Gai flashed him his signature smile, and with that, Lee took off at amazing speed around Konoha.

_Well... at least I'm running the laps of shame..._

* * *

One and a half hours later, Naruto and Lee finished simultaneously. Gai smiled at the both of them and said. "Excellent work, my youthful students, and now, we shall begin our training." Naruto was panting, trying to catch his breath, but Lee was jumping up and down excitedly, waiting on the inevitable words of Gai. "We will begin to teach Naruto the basics of our style." Naruto looked up at Gai expectantly. This was the training he was waiting for!

"Our style is a combination of speed, power, and endurance." Gai said seriously. This kind of freaked Naruto out, because he had never heard him sound so serious. He was used to Gai being a complete moron. He was awakened from his thoughts when Gai continued. "The warm ups that we do are not just for show. We train our bodies to the limit, in order to gain these three elements. Only then, will you be able to wield our style to perfection."

Naruto was staring intently at Gai, taking in every word he said. "There are a few types of strikes and blocks. All of these require every part of a persons body. We use every part of our bodies to attack and defend. We strike with power and grace, and it is the ultimate power Taijutsu. Are you ready, Naruto-Kun"

Naruto nodded at Gai. "Yeah.. I'm ready!"

* * *

Naruto quickly blocked an axe kick coming from above, and threw his right leg up in hopes of catching his opponent. However, he quickly disappeared from his spot and came from behind Naruto, aiming yet another axe kick from above. Naruto quickly dodged to the right and prepared to bring his right fist around, but his opponent brought his right arm up and floored Naruto with a powerful right hand to the jaw.

Naruto rolled hard into a tree. He groaned loudly as he sat himself up. As he rubbed his head in pain, the hand of Rock Lee came in front of his face. "Nice try Naruto-Kun, you are getting better and better as we go on." Naruto graciously accepted his hand and stood himself up. "However, don't make attacks that take to long."

Naruto then protested. "But.. that attack wasn't going to take long, my right arm was almost around."

Gai then made his case. "That is true, but even bringing your arm around in a situation like that can take to long. A split second is all someone needs to see an opening, and make an attack."

Maito Gai's student then took over. "In a case such as that one we were just in, try to use your left arm. When I missed, there was a split second opening, and you could've taken advantage if you used your left arm."

Naruto pleaded his case some more. "But hitting you with my left arm would do nothing, because I don't have much room to gain power behind the attack."

Rock Lee countered. "While you don't have enough power to knock me down yet, like I do.. you can still use that kind of attack to stun me, and leave an even wider opening for something more deadly."

Naruto nodded at the advice. Gai then took over. "Alright then, let us begin the youthful spar again!" Naruto simply nodded at his words and got himself into his ready stance again. Lee also did the same, bring his right arm up and folding his left arm up behind him.

However, before they could begin, a small alarm went off in Naruto's pocket. Gai and Lee looked at him questioningly, as Naruto pulled out a pocket watch.

"Damn.. sorry but, I have other training programs that I'm committed to today."

Gai then spoke up in a bit of a whiny voice. "But.. we have just begun, we still have many hours to go yet!"

Naruto waved his hands in front of his face. "Sorry.. but Tenten is going to be teaching me Kenjutsu as well for the next while."

Lee pumped his arms up. "Ohhh! Tenten is very talented with weapons, isn't she, Gai-Sensei?"

Gai flashed his signature smile. "Yes, she is very talented indeed. Well then Naruto-Kun, you should be heading off. Don't be late for training!"

Naruto turned around and waved back. "yeah, I'll be on time for sure!"

With that Naruto quickly made his way to his house, and grabbed for the Kubigiri-Houchou. "Best not forget this, told her I'd show her why.." Naruto grinned widely and slung the gigantic sword over his shoulder. He then made his way over Forest of Death.

When he got there. Tenten was already there, leaning against a sign and tapping her foot impatiently. When she finally saw Naruto walk into the clearing, she stormed up to him and made to berate him. "Naruto! I give you my time to train you in Kenjutsu, time that I could be using to train myself! And on the first day your... Holy fuck that's a huge sword."

Tenten had indeed the humongous sword slung on Naruto's back. Naruto grinned very widely, but couldn't help but be thankful that it had distracted her from her original speech. Before he could reply though, Tenten's fist connected with his face and sent him into a tree. "Your still late, you lazy idiot!"

Naruto groaned and picked himself up. "Sorry Tenten, I was just training with Gai.. and he can be one hell of a slave driver.."

Tenten dropped her head and 'sweat dropped.' "Yeah... I know exactly what you mean.."

Naruto then grinned and pulled the sword off his back, and let it crash to the ground on his right while still holding it. "So then.. what do you want to do first?"

Tenten went to her case she had brought with her and pulled out two sparring swords. she then tossed one of them to the feet of Naruto. "Assuming that you want to get better technique with that thing.. you'll have to use that practice sword." Naruto made to protest, but Tenten held her hand up. "Before you complain.. the fact is that sword would smash through these, so you wouldn't get any training out of it. With the training swords., we can fine tune your ability and style with the sword."

Naruto nodded and picked up the sword. He waved it around a bit, getting used to the feel, and then brought it to his side, like he had originally done with the Kubigiri-Houchou. He then grinned and said. "Alright then, shall we begin?"

Tenten brought her sword up in front of her, and threw her left arm to the side, and hunched over a little, getting into her ready position. "But of course Naruto, let's begin your Kenjutsu training." With those words she charged at Naruto. Naruto smiled and brought his sword up in front of his head to meet with an overhead chop. He tried to look for an opening, but Tenten had already brought her sword around and was attacking his left side.

Naruto quickly, yet awkwardly brought his sword to meet with the blade, but he was extremely off balance. Tenten smiled and made a quick attack at his legs. Naruto backed up, avoiding the attack, however, being as off balanced as he was, he fell to the ground on his ass. His first immediate thought was to bring his sword up, but Tenten had already brought hers to the base of his neck. She lifted his head a bit with the tip.

"Your going to have to do a lot better than that, Naruto." With those words, she gave him a smirk.

Naruto groaned inwardly. _This is going to take a long time..._

* * *

Naruto was getting increasingly better in the four hours he had been training with Tenten. He was having an easier time with his balance, and he was getting rather good at parrying her attacks. However, she was still too fast for Naruto to ever find an opening. Thus, the end of their short spars always ended up with Naruto backed up into a tree, or in a heap on the ground, with Tenten's blade resting on a random part of his body every time.

Tenten kept dealing blows to Naruto, and Naruto was quickly parrying them, however, he was being backed up, yet again. Tenten's attacks rained down on him hard and fast, and in no time, he was backed up against a tree again. Tenten was on his right, bringing the side of her blade to rest on Naruto's neck.

"You're getting better, Naruto." She stated. She then backed off and continued. "However, you need to gain more speed in your swordsmanship. If we can continue to build on that, you should be able to get the hang of it."

Naruto nodded his head, and brought his sword down on his side again. He found he liked this ready position a lot, and it would serve him a lot better when he transferred to his actual sword, with it being so big. Tenten also got herself into her own ready position, and prepared to strike again. She charged at Naruto, but before she could get to him. Hyuuga Neji made an appearance.

Tenten immediately stopped her attack. "Neji.." she politely said, "What brings you here?"

Neji looked between her and Naruto, and finally let his gaze rest on her. "Lee and Gai-Sensei wanted to meet us at a diner, and celebrate the success of our mission.. I wasn't going to go and bear their outbursts alone."

Tenten frowned momentarily and then turned it into a smile. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Sure, I'll come with you." She smiled sweetly and made her way to Neji.

Neji then looked to Naruto. "What were you two doing here anyways?" He asked questioningly.

Naruto grinned at him while he dropped his sword. "Tenten here is teaching me Kenjutsu, we've been at it for a while now."

Neji smiled at him. "I see, yes you made a good choice going to her for this. But don't you dare make any moves on her, you hear?"

Naruto smirked at Neji's comment. "Ohh.. am I missing something here?" As he said this, he moved in on the pair.

Tenten blushed maddeningly and nodded her head in the negative. Neji simply smiled and changed the subject. "Do you want to come with us to celebrate?"

Tenten continued for him. "Yeah, you are training with Gai as well, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind."

Naruto smiled warmly and nodded his head. "Thanks, but I have other things I have to do." He then walked off in the other direction. "Make sure you enjoy yourselves ya?"

Neji smiled, and Tenten simply replied. "Oh, we'll try, we'll see you later Naruto."

Naruto waved in response, and made his way to Kurenai's. It was about 6pm already, so he was guessing that they would probably be training to a late time at night. He groaned at the thought of an extremely short sleep. However, before he could change his mind, he found himself knocking on Kurenai's door. Kurenai opened the door a few seconds later, and looked slightly surprised to see Naruto.

"Well, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you this late?" Kurenai asked.

Naruto grinned at her. "I'm here for my training, sorry it took so long today.."

Kurenai simply smiled at his comment. "That's alright Naruto, let's go find a good spot to continue your training then." With those words, Kurenai grabbed a light jacket, and made her way outside while throwing it on.

Before they could go anywhere though, Sakura turned up suddenly in front of the pair. "Sakura-Chan!" Naruto exclaimed. "How are you doing today, and what brings you here?"

Sakura was panting softly, and then faced upwards at Kurenai and Naruto. "You two.. you've got to come to the hospital right now!"

* * *

**Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu** - Multiple Shadow Clone Technique

**Katon: Endan - **Fire Element: Fireball

**Author Notes - **Yess! go me! My first cliffy! An obvious one I think, but a cliffy none the less! Anyways, I hope that you were able to survive this chapter, because in my opinion, it's the most boring one out of all of the chapters I have left. Now, I hope you guys weren't expecting Naruto to immediately start beating the crap out of his teachers. No, it's his first day. That and the fact that "Gravities Effect" is always in effect for him, equals his time to take beatings. Akatsuki has now finished the extraction of the eighth Bijuu, and we now know what their goal is, but how will they go about attaining it? Sorry this chapter took so long. But out of all the chapters I have to write, this one was the one I was looking forward to the least, and I couldn't bring myself to doing it. Also I had a bit of a time coming up with ways to write this one. It shouldn't be a problem in the future though. If it is, you'll be sure to hear about it in my author notes, but for now, it was only a one time thing. Next chapter, we'll be finding out what the cliffy is (If you don't know, I'm not telling you).AsI type this, I'm going to go ahead and guess that we've got about four more training chapters left, possibly five, but most likely four.I look forward to reading and replying to your reviews, and until next time.


	9. Awakening of Two

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**

**Author Notes -**Now, for chapter 9 I guess. In this chapter, we will be going into the obvious "cliffy." Nothing more to be said about that. As obvious as I think it is, I won't go into anymore detail, and I'll let you find out for yourselves. Let me see now, what do I have to say... Well I can't really think of anything. From the reviews I'm getting, people seem to be thinking I'm doing a good job. I'm really glad I am doing a good job, so I'm not going to change much about the way I'm writing. If you have some constructive criticism for me, fire away, and I'll read it and see if I can make changes to improve myself. Anyways, glad your all enjoying the story so far, and... on with Chapter 9.

_this font is for thoughts_

_this font is for flashbacks_

**this font is for jutsus and techniques**

**this font is for kyuubi**

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* * *

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Chapter 9: Awakening of Two

"Well, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you this late?" Kurenai asked.

Naruto grinned at her. "I'm here for my training, sorry it took so long today.."

Kurenai simply smiled at his comment. "That's alright Naruto, let's go find a good spot to continue your training then." With those words, Kurenai grabbed a light jacket, and made her way outside while throwing it on.

Before they could go anywhere though, Sakura turned up suddenly in front of the pair. "Sakura-Chan!" Naruto exclaimed. "How are you doing today, and what brings you here?"

Sakura was panting softly, and then faced upwards at Kurenai and Naruto. "You two.. you've got to come to the hospital right now!"

Naruto looked at her confused. "Why.. do we have to go to the hospital, what's up Sakura-Chan, what happened?"

Kurenai looked at Sakura with wide eyes, as Naruto asked this question. Sakura finally caught her breath completely and looked up at the pair. "It's... Kiba and Hinata... they're..." Before she could finish, Kurenai had already taken off, and was quickly making her way to the hospital. Sakura watched her go with a dumbfounded look upon her own face, as she wasn't able to finish. Naruto however, had done a few quick hand seals, and summoned an all to familiar Bright Gold Scroll. It seemed to hover in mid air as Naruto picked up the fountain pen that came with it. He then signed his name, and waited for 'Gravities Effect to deactivate."

_I've got to get there fast! I'll just deactivate this until I get there, then I'll put it back on.._

Sakura had turned to Naruto just as the Gold Scroll disappeared. She looked at it in awe for the few moments her gaze had caught it. Then she looked up to Naruto, her eyes searching for an explanation. Naruto simply looked up at her and formed the corner of his mouth into a small smile. "I'll explain it later, let's just get to the hospital!" Sakura nodded her head and opened her mouth to speak, but Naruto had disappeared from the spot, a small gust of wind in his wake.

"Damn he's fast... and I never even got to tell him of their condition.." She shrugged it off though and followed in Naruto and Kurenai's wake.

Naruto couldn't help but notice that he was a lot faster than before. All the proof he needed was to see him blow by Kurenai in a dazzling display of speed. Kurenai simply looked at him, eyes as big as dinner plates, as she marvelled at how fast he was compared to where he used to be at speed wise.

Naruto touched down on the walkway in front of the Hospital. He quickly performed the necessary hand seals to bring the contract out, and signed it again. The effects of 'Gravities Effect' came on a few moments later, and Naruto made his way into the hospital.

He walked over to the front desk and immediately asked, "Where can I find the rooms of Hyuuga Hinata and Inuzuka Kiba?"

The nurse walked over to him and replied, "They're in the same room's as they were in the last time you were here. Also they're.." She looked towards the door to the stairwell, and saw that Naruto had already begun to speed up the stairs. She sighed deeply, and went back to her original task.

Naruto bolted up the stairwell as fast his his legs could carry him, and threw the door open on the third floor. Naruto quickly made his way down the hallways, and found himself in the familiar waiting area outside of the operation rooms.

Naruto calmed himself down, and made for the door. He took a deep breath, and quietly opened the door. His eyes immediately widened as wide as they would go.

"Hey there Naruto, it's been a while ya?"

"N-Naruto-Kun, it's.. nice to see you again."

Kiba and Hinata were both sitting up on their respective beds, hands clasped in between. Hinata was shyly smiling in a different direction other than Naruto, and Kiba was giving Naruto a wide grin. Naruto stood there, shocked for a moment at how casually they were taking this conversation, but he kicked himself and gave the pair a warm smile.

"Kiba... Hinata... you're alright.." Naruto then walked up to the bedside of Kiba and Hinata. He then turned to Kiba first, and offered his hand. "I don't think you're the type for hugs, so.." Kiba smiled wider and grasped Naruto's hand with his own. While their hands were clasped, the both of them were squeezing so hard it was at the point in which they were hurting each other. However, it was Naruto who withdrew first, and he grinned while shaking the pain out of his hand.

He then turned to Hinata, who was already blushing furiously. Naruto walked over to her and gave her a friendly, but tight, hug. Hinata wanted to return it, however, her face was now shaded in a tomato red and she felt herself getting light-headed. In a matter of moments, Hinata fainted. Naruto let the hug go after a few seconds, but then noticed Hinata had fainted. His face showed half worry, and half confusion. He was worried that he might've accidentally hurt her, but then wondered why she had fainted so quickly.

Kiba however, spoke out rather loudly. "Hinata! Why do you ALWAYS have to faint when Naruto engages in any kind of activity with you!?" Naruto looked over to where Kiba was, and Kiba just shrugged. "Damn... and i was just making headway with her as well, thanks a lot Naruto, now I gotta start again when she wakes up!"

Naruto looked at Kiba with an even more confused face, and was about to ask what he meant, when the door once again opened. This time, it was Kurenai who was taking up the door frame. She wore the same expression Naruto did upon his first entering, except her features were much more dramatic. Tears began to fill her eyes and roll down her cheeks, as she looked at the scene in front of her. She then slowly made her way to the bedsides.

Kiba had turned away from Naruto, and was smiling warmly at Kurenai. "Hey Kurenai-Sensei. Sorry about this... we must've worried you.. but.. we're alright now."

Kurenai gave him a watery smile, and then burst out into a full blown cry. She grabbed Kiba and tightly hugged him. "God damnit Kiba.. you two worried me sick! I don't need you guys to go dying on me now! Not when we're so close as a team..."

Kiba was returning the hug to his teacher as he replied. "Heh, sorry about that.. thing's happened and plans had to be made.. there wasn't much else that could've been done at the time.."

Kurenai had buried her face into Kiba's shoulder by now. "Damnit! I don't want you two getting in a situation like that again, you hear!?"

Kiba smiled warmly past her. "We'll try not to anyways, Kurenai-Sensei.."

It was in that moment that Hinata chose to wake up. She sat up groggily, and this did not go unnoticed by Kurenai. Kurenai turned around, her face windswept, and she threw herself at Hinata, giving her the same bone crunching hug she had given Kiba.

"Damnit Hinata, you got to be more careful, you almost got yourself killed, be more careful!"

Hinata was pretty much speechless. "Kurenai-Sensei..."

"I don't need to lose you two!" Kurenai exclaimed loudly. "I've lost Asuma.. and we've lost Shino and Akamaru... I don't need you guys dying on me now, as selfish as it sounds.."

Hinata and Kiba simply smiled at Kurenai as she said this. Naruto was by the door to the room, watching this touching scene unfold before his eyes. He smiled warmly and made to open the door.

"Hey Naruto, where are you going?"

Naruto turned around at Kiba's question. He continued to smile warmly as he said, "This seems to be a Team Kurenai moment here. I'm going to let you guys get caught up." Hinata opened her mouth to say something, but Naruto interrupted her. "Don't worry, we'll have lots of time to talk after, we'll see you guys later.." With those words, Naruto opened the door, and closed it quietly behind him, letting Kurenai, Kiba, and Hinata get re-acquainted.

When Naruto had opened the door, Sakura, Kakashi, Tsunade, and Jiraiya were all sitting on the benches in front of the doorway, all of them softly smiling at Naruto. Naruto returned their smiles with a smile of his own, and then slowly walked past the group. His eyes had been watering up as he walked out of the room, and he wasn't exactly in the mood to have everyone coddling him.

The group simply looked on stunned, as he walked by them, and eventually made his way through the stairwell door, the door quietly closing behind him, signalling his exit.

* * *

Sasuke was sweating profusely.

He was currently training himself to become more powerful, and he wasn't letting any time go to waste. He currently stood in between Karin and Jugo, as they circled around him slowly, mentally planning their next move.

Karin sprung from her position first. She jumped high into the air and made to bring a quick axe kick down. Sasuke side stepped the obvious attack, smirking a bit as he did. Karin, however, wore an even bigger smirk. Sasuke looked at her in surprise as Jugo came at Sasuke with a Haymaker. Sasuke turned in shock, and tried to maneuver himself out of position, but Jugo's punch still caught Sasuke in the shoulder as Sasuke was making to dodge. Sasuke sprawled across the terrain, but quickly regained himself as he flipped himself back on to his feet. As quickly as that happened, Sasuke began his counter-offensive. He sped back into the fray and threw his fist quickly into the gut of Karin. The fist sunk in deep, and Karin spat out in pain, as she flew back into a nearby tree.

Jugo quick came at Sasuke with a kick aimed at Sasuke's jaw, but Sasuke was quicker, and he picked the foot out of mid-air. The Uchiha then sank towards the ground and sweeped out Jugo's other leg with a clean trip. Jugo stumbled to the ground, and made to get up. The problem with that, was that Sasuke was now pinning him to the ground, a kunai at his throat. Sasuke then quickly threw another kunai just above the head of the chakra depleted Karin, thus signalling the end of the spar.

Sasuke withdrew the Kunai he had at Jugo's neck, and walked away from the fray. Karin sat against the tree, breathing extremely hard, watching Sasuke as he walked away. Jugo sat up, and put his elbows on his knees, letting his arms hang lose over the edge of his knees. He to watched Sasuke, and he made the first comment. "You're getting much stronger Sasuke-Kun. It's only been ten days as well, you should be capable of beating Itachi when the time comes."

Sasuke stopped walking. He turned his head back around to gaze at his two teammates. Karin and Jugo both waited for his response, but he said nothing. He just looked at them, with a blank, unemotional expression, and then turned around. Karin and Jugo both looked down because of their teammates lack of response. He had just kept walking.

"We should get some sleep." Sasuke said, "We have a lot of training to do tomorrow."

* * *

Naruto now found himself walking in and around the training grounds.

He was deep in thought about the situation with Hinata and Kiba being alive. He was glad beyond belief about that, but that's not exactly what he was thinking. No, Naruto was thinking about the situation with Shino and Akamaru being dead. He could somewhat relate to the anguish they were going through. While Sasuke may not be dead, he was gone, and from their last meeting, it was looking doubtful that he was ever going to return. Shino and Akamaru were actually dead though, and no matter how little of a chance there seemed to be for getting Sasuke back, there was still a chance. The fact was, Shino and Akamaru were gone, and there was no coming back.

Naruto then suddenly stopped and looked up in front of him, snapping himself out of his deep state of thought. He was now standing on the training ground that Sakura, Sasuke, and himself had become Genin, and he was looking at three familiar stumps. He, had of course, been tied down to the one in the middle. He was extremely pissed at the time, but now, the thought brought a sad smile to his face.

Naruto slowly made his way to the middle stump, and collapsed onto the ground, leaning against the stump. He shifted around until he found a comfortable position, and then just sat there, looking up at the sky. It was a clear, warm night, and the full moon was casting a bright light all across the grounds. Naruto just enjoyed the weather, thinking about nothing, and leaving his mind blank, trying to give himself some lee-way and put himself in a better mood.

He was brought out of his reverie when he heard a rustling from some bushes nearby. Naruto brought his head down, and let a Kunai drop from a holster, located in the lower sleeve of one of the jacket arms. He brought it to a defensive position, and gazed towards the place where the noise had originally come from. His gaze lingered there for a moment, before he smiled and withdrew his kunai back into his sleeve, and leaned back against the stump again. "You can come out, Kakashi-Sensei."

The said person slowly, but quietly walked out of the bushes, all the while having Naruto's gaze fixed upon him. Kakashi smiled behind his mask as he made his way to where Naruto currently was sitting. When Kakashi got to where Naruto was, he flopped himself down, leaning back on the stump to Naruto's left. Naruto turned his head away from Kakashi and made to stare intently at the ground in front of him.

The two of them then simply sat in silence for a few minutes, waiting for the other person to start talking, but it didn't happen. Naruto then began impatient and decided that he would start the talking. "What brings you here, Kakashi-Sensei?"

Kakashi, who had been looking straight ahead of him since he sat down, shifted his gaze over to Naruto. "Just decided that I should check up on my student."

Naruto sadly smiled. "Thanks Sensei, but I don't need checking up on."

Kakashi then brought his gaze back in front of him. "I know that, but I promised Sakura that I'd come and check up on you, and I really have no plans on breaking that promise."

Naruto shifted his view to Kakashi for the first time since the said person had sat down. "Sakura-Chan? Why did she ask you to find me?"

Kakashi didn't answer for a moment, but then answered. "She wanted to come check up on you herself, but Tsunade said that she was needed there, to help Hinata and Kiba out." He then paused before continuing. "Took a hell of an effort to keep her there you know, only reason she didn't come is because I said I'd do it for her." Kakashi then turned to Naruto for a reply.

Naruto looked ahead of him again. "I see..." was his simple reply.

Kakashi spoke up once again. "We could all see that something was bothering you back there, and it was rather troubling considering that Kiba and Hinata had just woken up." Naruto didn't reply to the statement, so Kakashi continued. "Naruto... what's up?" Naruto once again didn't reply, which more or less frustrated Kakashi, so he spoke once again. "Naruto.. I'm not leaving here until I get an answer, so you may as well spit it out already."

Naruto simply shifted his gaze from the ground to the sky. He contemplated how to best answer Kakashi. "Don't get me wrong Sensei... I'm glad beyond belief that Kiba and Hinata are going to be alright.. but with those thoughts, also made me think of Shino and Akamaru.." Kakashi didn't answer, but looked at Naruto, giving him the go ahead to continue. "I wonder how much grief is going to follow them now.. I feel for them. They lost two close comrades, and Kiba basically lost his best friend and partner."

Kakashi then spoke up. "I can understand how that upsets you, it's one of the many qualities that make you such a good person, but I sense there's more to this than that, am I right?"

Naruto nodded at Kakashi and continued. "Those thoughts made me think about Sasuke.. He was pretty much what Akamaru was to Kiba.." Kakashi's eyes widened at this statement, and Naruto quickly waved him off. "No, he wasn't like a pet to me Sensei..." Kakashi relaxed a bit at this, and let him continue. "But, he was my best friend, and I would've easily considered him to be my partner."

Kakashi made to speak up at this, but Naruto cut him off. "Fuck, and I've lost him too! Maybe not in the same way as death, but I've still lost him damnit!" With those words, Naruto punched the ground hard, causing a small indent to appear. "Nobody should have to feel this damnit! Yet now, one of my close friends is going through this exact same feeling!"

Kakashi looked away from Naruto and gazed into the starry night sky. "I know.. exactly.. how you feel, Naruto."

Naruto glared at Kakashi. "How the hell would you know what it's like? Don't go sympathizing with me!"

Kakashi inwardly sighed. "You don't know very much about me.. do you, Naruto?" Naruto stopped glaring, and was all ears. "No, I guess I've never really told anybody about my past." Naruto relaxed a little bit, but continued to give Kakashi all of his attention. "Looks like you'll be the first. There always is a first in everything."

Naruto said nothing, but continued to listen intently. Kakashi sighed, and began. "To fill in some minor details, I grew up in a very dangerous time. It was known as 'The Third Secret World War.' I had become a Chuunin at the age of six, and I became Jounin at the age of thirteen. What I'm going to tell you about.. is my first mission as a Jounin." Naruto sat silently, so Kakashi continued. "It was supposed to be a quick, quiet, 'sneaking mission,' but.. it turned out a lot differently.

"My Sensei, was your father Naruto, Namikaze Minato. He had told the other two on my team that I was in charge."

"Well.. if you were the team leader," Naruto stated, "then that would be a good thing wouldn't it, you always look out for your team."

"Not at that time.." Kakashi said. Naruto looked at Kakashi, stunned. "Back in those days, I was cold, uncaring. I didn't care about my team. To me, it was about getting the mission done. It didn't matter to me how, as long as it got done. My teammates went by the names of Rin... and Uchiha Obito."

Naruto made to interrupt him, but Kakashi cut him off. "Well, we made our way for the Hidden Village of Rock, where the mission was taking place. We were to take out a bridge, and cut off the enemies supply. The mission went on, and soon, The Yondaime split up with us, and we made our way to do the job while he distracted them at the front." Kakashi paused for a moment before continuing. "We were attacked by two ninja from the Hidden Rock Village. They distracted me and Obito, and they took Rin hostage."

"So... what did you guys do?" Naruto asked, not sure if he wanted to know.

"Obito wanted to go after Rin straight away and rescue her. However, I told Obito that we were going to leave her, and continue on with the mission." Kakashi said, "I explained to him that they probably wouldn't kill her anyways, and that the mission took priority. He argued about Rin's safety, and I said that sacrifices were essential. He reminded me that Rin had always helped me, been with me through thick and thin... and I told him that it was simply Rin's duty."

Naruto gasped loudly at this comment, but remained silent. "He punched me down and said he couldn't stand me. We argued a bit longer, but then he turned around, and he said one line, that I remember to this day..." Kakashi paused before saying his favorite line. "Those in the ninja world who break the rules and regulations are called trash... but... those who don't care about their companions are.. even worse trash."

"He left, and I turned the other way. I thought on those words, and I realized what an ass I was. I went back to help Obito. He was about to get killed when I got there, however... when the ninja made his next attack, I lost my left eye." Naruto looked at him strangely, but didn't speak. "It was at that time, in which Obito first activated his Sharingan, and killed the enemy ninja. We then went into a cave, and took down the other ninja, and we saved Rin. Then the ninja we had just taken down got up and collapsed the cave. I got hit by a huge piece of debris, and Obito came back and chucked me out... only to have his right side crushed by the cave in.."

Naruto was coming close to tears, but Kakashi continued. "It was then... that I received the Sharingan. Obito's final request was to give me his left eye to replace the one I had lost..." Kakashi was also close to tears now. "I made sure the ninja who had collapsed the cave died. I didn't kill him quick either.. I made him suffer for what he did!" Kakashi's eyes were watery now, but he forced out one more statement. "You know why I'm always late..." Naruto shook his head. "It's because I'm also at the stone, with the engravings of dead ninja. I always go there when I wake up.. and I find that I stay there longer than I mean to.. he changed me, for the better, I was cold, he made me give a damn..!" Kakashi then put his head in his arms and silently began to cry at the memory."

_Fuck... this is weird. Kakashi-Sensei's crying, this is a first... how the heck should I handle this..._

Naruto simply lifted his left hand, and placed it on Kakashi's shoulder. Kakashi raised his head and looked over in the direction of Naruto. Naruto smiled warmly at him and spoke. "Thanks for telling me this Sensei, it means a lot for you to be able to trust me like that.. I'm also sorry for going off at you, accusing you that you had no idea.." Naruto then looked away.

Kakashi looked at Naruto in bewilderment, but Naruto continued. "You know Kakashi-Sensei... just because you're my teacher, doesn't mean I don't see you as one of my closest friends.."

Kakashi smiled warmly at Naruto behind his mask, and ruffled Naruto's hair. "Thanks kid.. that means a lot." Kakashi stated. "If it means anything, I consider you and Sakura to be my closest friends."

Naruto looked back at Kakashi and smiled, bring his right hand around and in front of Kakashi. Kakashi smiled and brought his right hand to Naruto's, and they exchanged a manly handshake, symbolizing their friendship and mutual understanding.

Naruto then leaned back against the stump once again, smiling widely and leaning back. "You know, I'm doing a lot better now, I could go do something else, but I'm rather comfortable here." Kakashi smiled and nodded in agreement, as he to, leaned back against the stump. Naruto had his right knee up, and his right foot flat against the ground. His left leg was simply laid out on the ground. His right arm was slung over his right knee, and his other arm was hanging loosely towards the ground while he gazed up at the stars. Kakashi simply had both his legs flat on the ground, and both arms behind his head, as he to, gazed up at the stars.

The pair sat in an agreed silence for a while, until another person came in rather quietly, awakening them from their respective thoughts. They both looked down to see Sakura making her way towards them.

"Hey Sakura-Chan!" Naruto yelled. "How are Hinata and Kiba doing?"

Sakura smiled and walked up towards the pair, flopping on the ground and leaning against the stump to Naruto's right. "They're fine now, though it's going to take them a couple months for them to be released. There's a lot of damage to their chakra coils and lots of internal injury. When they're out, we'll hold a memorial for Shino and Akamaru... so they can be there to say good-bye as well.

Naruto smiled at this and simply said. "That's good." He tilted his head towards the sky again."

Sakura brought her gaze towards Naruto however. "How about you Naruto.. you looked like something was bothering you.."

Naruto smiled wider and answered her. "I'm doing fine now, you can thank Kakashi-Sensei for that." Sakura looked over to Kakashi and smiled warmly at him, thanking him. Kakashi simply nodded his head and went back to looking towards the sky, signalling that it was no problem.

Sakura looked back at Naruto with a bit of worry still. "Naruto..." she took his right hand in her own hands. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Naruto brought his gaze down to Sakura. The two of them lost themselves in the eyes of the other, Sakura losing herself in Naruto's Sapphire eyes, while Naruto did the same with Sakura's emerald like eyes. "Yeah Sakura... I'm just fine..." Naruto and Sakura let their faces inch closer to the other. They were mere inches apart when Kakashi loudly and abruptly gave out a loud cough.

The pair looked towards their Sensei in shock. After that feeling subsided, Sakura turned away, blushing maddeningly. Naruto however, glared at Kakashi with loathing. Kakashi merely smiled happily at Naruto's reaction, and went back to looking at the sky. Naruto turned towards Sakura to see that she had done the same, the last remnants of her blush beginning to fade a little. Naruto smiled warmly, and directed his attention to the stars like the people on each side of him, two of three people he held closest to him.

**

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Author Notes - Please don't hate me for taking so long. I have no excuses for taking so long. I was simply feeling extremely lazy. I always found myself saying "Ok, I'm going to write it right now... after I take a shower." Then, "Ok I'm done my shower, I'll just wait an hour until I start. Then "Hell, I'll just do it tomorrow." It was that kind of thing. But I'm done now. Now, I guess I'll make you hate me even more (not very wise on my part). That scene with Kakashi and Naruto's talk, was originally supposed to be Naruto and Sakura. However, I changed this, because I plan to have that for another chapter (no, they weren't going to hook up in this chapter, they won't be hooking up in that chapter either. There's some nice spoilers for you. Sorry NaruSaku fans, please be patient ( ). Anyways, as you can see, Hinata and Kiba are alive, and we got to see what Sasuke is going to be up to for the next months that pass. One thing I noticed, is how short of a fight exchange I wrote with Sasuke and co. I noticed that there were few moves thrown, and in reality the excerpt of that fight would've taken about twenty seconds tops. Makes me wonder how long my actual fight scenes are going to be. Next chapter, I'm thinking of either skipping right to the Shino and Akamaru memorial, or, I'm going to put in another chapter before the skip. I'll take a couple days to decide what I think will work best. I'll take your opinions into consideration if you have one (on that topic). I look forward to reading and replying to your reviews, and until next time.

P.S. I HATE THIS NEW SPELLCHECKER


	10. In the Memory of

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**

**Author Notes - **As I type this, it is Monday, so now we can all know when I sat down and made the effort to begin this haha. With this chapter, I had two possibilities that I was looking at. One of my choices was to move a certain event up a few chapters (not the romance, sorry NaruSaku fans, that continues on course). I decided against that, and decided it was best where I originally put it, because it's a lot easier to explain than moving it up to this chapter. My other choice, and the choice I decided to go with, will be the Memorial of Shino and Akamaru. Though, while that's the main point of the chapter, I think we all know that there's going to be more to this chapter than simply that. But that's enough about the chapter. I've decided that I'm going to try and write either three chapters every two weeks, or a chapter per week. It more or less depends each time on whether or not I'm in the writing mood. However, as I write this, I'm in that writing mood, so hopefully, I won't take too long to get this out (think it's obvious that I had lost the mood for a bit with that last chapter). Thank you to all the reviewers for reviewing, I do appreciate it, and I rather enjoy replying to your reviews. I can't think of anything more to say at the moment, so thank you all, and enjoy.

_this font is for thoughts_

_this font is for flashbacks_

**this font is for jutsus and techniques**

**this font is for kyuubi**

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Chapter 10: In the Memory of..

Rain pattered loudly of the window in Naruto's bedroom. He woke up suddenly. Naruto then sleepily rubbed his eyes, and turned his head in the direction of his alarm clock. It was now 9am. Naruto had usually been waking up at 6am for training, but that wasn't the case today. Naruto swung his feet over the bed and walked to the window to gaze outside. It was a dark, cloudy day, and the rain was coming down hard, with no sign of it letting up.

_Shitty weather for a shitty day to remind me of shitty memories... Ironic._

Naruto sighed loudly and made his way to the shower. It had been two months since Kiba and Hinata had woken up, and they had just recently been released from Konoha Hospital. This in turn, meant that the memorial for Shino and Akamaru would be taking place in the near future. That day happened to be today. Naruto just stood in the shower for a good half hour, merely letting the steaming hot jets of water pelt on and off of him. With one great effort, Naruto turned off the shower and stepped out.

Naruto dried himself off rather quickly, and then made his way to his kitchen to make up a bit of Ramen. He did that as quickly as possible, and ate it quickly as well. Naruto then made his way back to his bathroom to brush his teeth, and get into his clothes. He pulled on a black shirt and black pants, as was customary in the village for a memorial.

Letting out what must have been the fiftieth sigh of the morning, Naruto slowly made his way out of his house, and towards the Memorial Stone, where the memorial was to take place.

As he walked by the Hokage Tower, he met up with Sakura, Shizune, and Tsunade. He was half expecting to meet up with Jiraiya and Kakashi, but he knew that Kakashi was probably already there, and that Jiraiya was doing his peeping bit.

"Hey Naruto.." Tsunade exlaimed upon his arrival, "you ready for this?"

"Naruto directed his gaze to Tsunade, and looked at her for a moment, before turning his head away. "Yeah... Let's go."

Sakura and Shizune were both dressed up identically. They both supported a black blouse and a black skirt that hugged their thighs. Tsunade was in a rare outfit herself. She sported her Hokage Robes, which she never wore unless she had to.

"So Naruto," Sakura asked, "Have you seen Kiba and Hinata since they got out of the hospital?"

Naruto looked at Sakura and faintly said "yeah.." and then looked ahead of him again. Truth be told, Naruto had etched an opening into his schedule to make sure that he visited the pair everyday after they woke up. He hadn't missed a beat in the schedule yet, and he sure wasn't planning to. He had noticed, that over the past couple of months, that Kiba and Hinata had become extremely close. Not only in the sense that they had both lost the same something, but it was much more personal. Naruto faintly remembered walking in on an extremely private moment between the two. After getting over his inital embarrassment, and letting Kiba and Hinata sort themselves out, Naruto had gone in to continue his visit as usual. Hinata had fallen asleep early.

_Flashback_

_Naruto and Kiba both directed their gaze at Hinata, after she had failed to answer a question directed at her. She had, however, fallen asleep earlier than usual. Naruto decided to take this time to ask Kiba about him and Hinata._

_"So Kiba.." Naruto asked slyly, "when exactly did this happen."_

_The faintest of blushes crept onto Kiba's cheeks. "When exactly did what happen Naruto?" Kiba already knew what he was referring to, but he tried to avoid the subject regardless of how futile it actually was._

_"Well you know.." Naruto said, "When exactly did it come to scenes as the one I just recently witnessed?" Naruto had decided not to be to blunt about it, but to get his point across to Kiba anyways._

_Kiba didn't turn away, but instead directed his attention to the girl in the bed beside him. "Couple weeks ago.."_

_Naruto grinned widely and slapped Kiba on the shoulder. "Alright man, way to go!"_

_Kiba smiled, but never removed his gaze from Hinata. "After our fight with Madara, it seemed remarkably easy to spill out my feelings for her.." Kiba said. "After an experience like we had, it kind of hits you, that you never exactly know what's going to happen in life, and that it can be over before you know it."_

_Naruto had collapsed into a chair that was nearby, and starring intently at Kiba, letting him talk. "It made me realize.. that I had to tell her, and I had to take my chance with her.. while I had it, because you never know when death would come and creep up on us, and that chance would be gone. I've chosen to live my life to the fullest. If I die, I want to have no regrets when it happens. Now that's I've told her my feelings, and she's done the same, I'm happier than I've been in a long time, and I could truly die right now with no regrets."_

_Naruto smiled warmly at what Kiba stated, and inwardly reflected a bit on those words himself later on that night._

_End Flashback_

As Naruto was contemplating this scene in his head, Sakura was starring at him intently, which went unnoticed by Naruto, but not by Tsunade and Shizune. The pair of them said nothing, and simply smiled at Sakura, before turning their attention back on the path ahead.

_Somethings bothering Naruto again... I hope he's alright. I'll have to talk to him after the Memorial._

As Sakura was thinking this, Naruto had turned his attention back to Sakura. Sakura quickly snapped out of her reverie, and flashed Naruto a quick warm smile, before turning away to hide the blush that was traitorously deepening in color.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head in confusion, but turned his attention back to the path ahead of him.

"So you guys.." Tsunade began, "I'm going to tell you the way this is going to go, just so there is no confusion." Naruto and Sakura both looked towards the Hokage, and nodded quickly. Shizune simply smiled at her statement. "We're all simply going to line up in front of the stone, and bow our heads in respect, and in the memory of our comrades. I'll say a few words, and then everyone will go up and pay their individual respects, and retreat back into line. After everyone has paid their respects, the Memorial is officially over." Naruto and Sakura nodded again. "Though.. it doesn't mean you can't stay as long as you want.." Naruto bowed his head when she said this, and Sakura directed her attention to Naruto.

_Something is definitely bothering him... I'll have to make sure I talk to him today.. I'll try right now, but I probably won't get anything out of him.._

"Hey Naruto," Sakura exclaimed, making up her mind. Naruto looked up to meet her eyes. "Are you alright, you look like something's bothering you?"

Naruto smiled warmly. "Yeah Sakura-Chan, I'm fine, don't worry about it.." Naruto then turned his head back to looking at the ground.

Sakura furrowed her brow and slightly frowned in concern. _Ugh, he's so stubborn! I'll definitely find out what's wrong, I won't let him off that easy. I'll find him after the Memorial concludes for sure!_

Sakura nodded her head privately, and turned her direction ahead once again, concocting a plan to get Naruto to spill his worries. "We're here." Tsunade exclaimed.

Naruto and Sakura snapped out of their respective thoughts and looked towards the Memorial Stone. The Aburame's were already there, as well as Kiba, Hinata, Kurenai, and Kakashi.

"Kakashi-Sensei!?" Sakura exclaimed. Kakashi turned his head to see Sakura. "You're ON TIME!! Let alone EARLY!? Kakashi smiled behind his mask and gave her the thumbs up. Sakura looked absolutely dumbfounded, but Naruto just smiled in understanding.

Naruto, Sakura, Tsunade, and Shizune each took their place in the lines of ninja that were already there, and waited for the rest of the attendants to arrive.

* * *

In a dark cave, a figure suddenly materialized out of thin air. It wasn't a physical person though, but simply the image of one. From what could be seen of him, he was about average height, and had spiky hair. He also sported the Rinnegan in his eyes.

Pein was quickly joined by the figures of Uchiha Itachi, Hoshigaki Kisame, Deidera, Zetsu, and Konan. The six S-Rank Criminals nodded their heads at each other in greeting, before a dim light jetted across the surface of the cave floor. A little bit of rain made it's way into the cave as yet another figure made his way into the cave. This man had long, spiky, black hair, and was also about average height. He sported the traditional Akatsuki cloak, and the all to familiar Sharingan. This Sharingan was different from all other's though. It was the only fully completed Mangekyu Sharingan that had ever existed. This man was Uchiha Madara.

Madara raised his right hand, and the cave closed behind him, leaving the criminal organization in pitch darkness. The rest of Akatsuki quickly bowed in respect as he entered, and as quickly as the bowed, they had up righted themselves, and devoted all of their attention to Madara.

"I trust that we have all had a good holiday?" Madara asked

Nobody answered at this, they simply waited for him to continue. Madara, noticing that nobody answered, continued. "No stories to tell? Did we not just have a blast these last two months, doing nothing!?"

Again, no one answered, but everyone but Pein visibly flinched at the anger in his voice. "Pein!!" Pein's gaze and posture did not waver, he simply stared at Madara, waiting for him to continue his rant. "I thought I told you to capture the Kyuubi container, yet, I couldn't help but notice that it hasn't been done!"

Pein spoke for the first time. "I was busy fighting one of the Legendary Sannin, Jiraiya, after the fight, I suppose that it just slipped my mind." The smallest of smirks were now plastered on his face.

"As strong as he is, you should have been able to defeat him and get on with your task! What happened?"

Pein calmly answered, "I did defeat Jiraiya, he fled the battle scene when we were through. But as I said, after the fight was over, it simply slipped my mind."

"Slip... slipped your mind!?" Madara raged on. "The Kyuubi container is the last Jinchuuriki, and also the most powerful. Do you realize that you've just given him three months to train and prepare?"

"As a matter of fact, I have realized that." Pein answered, "but that also will make the Kyuubi stronger, and also make the fruits of our victory all the more powerful. It's a risk/reward situation.

Madara fired back right away. "Yes, but the result would have been powerful enough all the same, you should've got the job done, no excuses!"

"Didn't you have a run in with the container Madara?" Madara looked up in shock at Pein. "From what I heard, you met up with The Jinchuuriki and some Konoha ninja. Yet, the container once again got away, yet here you are running your mouth at me for failing to do my job, when the container was point blank in front of you."

"Watch your tongue there Pein!" Madara yelled. "You're extremely lucky that we're not in the same area right now, or I'd tear you a new one because of your attitude!"

Pein looked at him with a bored expression. "Yes, that's true I suppose. However, you have your Sharingan to thank for that. I think we both know that if you didn't have it, you wouldn't be a match for me."

"But the fact remains that I indeed do have it, and therefore, as we both know, I am more powerful than you, even with the Rinnegan eye!"

Pein said nothing, but simply smirked at Madara. Madara, sensing that Pein had nothing to say, continued. "So, now that Pein is done running his mouth, I suppose it's time to get down to business, and plan a strategy to capture the Kyuubi container. Though, now that security is so tight.." Madara steamed, glaring at Pein before continuing, "we probably won't be getting in for another few weeks."

* * *

All the ninja at the Memorial Stone were standing in silence, as the last few ninja that were attending the memorial were just arriving and falling into line. The rain fell down hard to the ground, and the grass was becoming soaked to the point it felt like walking through a swamp. Naruto stood there, oblivious to the weather, as he gazed down at a spot on the ground with all the effort he could muster. It was as though there was something very interesting in that spot.

Sakura had her gaze locked on Naruto at the moment. She to, was oblivious to the horrible weather, as she was much more concerned about Naruto. After about ten minutes of watching him look at the same spot, it caught Sakura's interest as she looked down to wear his gaze was, only to look upon a patch of grass. Sakura looked back up, saddened at the sorrow mood Naruto seemed to be in.

Tsunade was absolutely ticked. Unlike Naruto and Sakura, she had noticed the weather, and was becoming irritating at the lack of speed the ninja were arriving. She had stolen glances at Sakura during the time they were waiting, but Sakura had never noticed, she was too busy giving her full attention to the sullen Naruto. The scene brought a sad smile to Tsunade's face each time she viewed it.

Kakashi was simply gazing at the stone. He knew that he should be thinking about Shino, but he couldn't help but stare at the name of his fallen comrade, Uchiha Obito. He thought about all that he had lost. Obito had died saving him from a rock slide, The Yondaime had died sealing the Kyuubi in Naruto, and nobody had known what had happened to Rin, so she had been declared dead as well. He had now made it his personal duty in life to make sure that the same fate did not befall Naruto and Sakura.

While each contemplated their own thoughts, Jiraiya finally showed up, and took his place in line as well. He and Tsunade were the only one's not wearing the customary black. Tsunade simply because she was the Hokage, and Jiraiya simply because he had no black outfit to wear. As Jiraiya stepped beside Tsunade, she turned her head and gave him a glare full of rage. Jiraiya simply waved it off, and point his hand to the Memorial Stone, silently telling her that she needed to step up.

Tsunade nodded her head, and made her way up slowly and quietly. She stopped beside the stone and turned to face the attending ninja. She cleared her throat loud enough so that all of the ninja in attendance looked up, and gave her their undivided attention.

"The Funeral for Aburame Shino.." she began, "who lost his life in battle with Akatsuki, will begin now." She paused, before continuing. "This may not be the time, but the person who killed Shino, was Uchiha Madara.."

The ninja all gasped in shock at this, well most of them. The exceptions being the team that had been confronted by him, Jiraiya, and Shizune. One of the attenders opened his mouth to speak, but Tsunade raised her hand to stop him. "Any outbursts at this news can be given to me at my office after the funeral. There is no need to dishonor his memory with arguments right now." The person who had made to speak immediately shut his mouth, and listened on.

"Aburame Shino, sacrificed his life, in order to let other ninja on his team escape. It is a noble death, and the death of a true shinobi. He was a very talented ninja, and he had a bright future ahead of him, only to be blighted by the likes of Uchiha Madara. So honor this brave shinobi, by never forgetting him, and the sacrifice that he made." With those words, Tsunade placed a white flower in a certain spot, to begin a pile, and then made her way back in line to begin the proceedings.

The remainder of the Konoha Eleven was first. Kiba and Hinata both made their way hand in hand as the first people to honor him. They both placed a white flower respectively where Tsunade had laid hers down. The two stood there in silence for a minute, before the pair of them broke down into tears. Tsunade made her way up to the pair, and placed a hand on their shoulders. Kiba and Hinata looked up at her. Tsunade warmly smiled at them, and the three of them walked off and took their place back in line.

The next people that went were Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten. Each of them placed a flower in the pile, and stood there for a few moments, letting the realization hit them before making their way back in line. This was of course, the first time one of the members from the Konoha Eleven's graduating class had died. The realization hit them all hard. This was someone they had grown up with, in the academy, and as full fledged ninja. This would probably stay with them for a long time. Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino were next. They repeating the process that Team Gai had gone through, and made their way back in line.

The next person was Naruto. Naruto slowly made his way up to the stone, with his white flower in hand. He placed it on the pile, and stood there, looking at the picture of Shino.

_I never really knew you Shino... you were always quiet, and a bit creepy. You always seemed to make yourself inconspicuous, and mysterious. All of this doesn't change the fact, that we grew up together in the Academy, and that you were one of my close friends, along with everyone else that graduated with us. I.. thank you, for your sacrifice, letting the rest of the team escape while you, Kiba and Hinata all took on Madara. I'm.. pretty sure you already know that Kiba and Hinata were able to survive. While I may not be able to do anything for you anymore, I promise that I won't let the same fate that befell you befall them. I'll never forget what you did for us.. your sacrifice will not be in vain._

Naruto continued to stand at the stone, mulling over his thoughts. Sakura had taken this time to make her way to the podium, and place her flower on the pile. She stood there for a few moments, offering her prayers to Shino, before she placed her hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto was startled out of his thoughts, and he looked up at the hand, and then focused his gaze on Sakura. Sakura offered him a warm smile. Naruto stood there for a moment, and then returned her the same gesture. The two of them then made their way, together, back in line, to let the proceedings continue.

Kurenai was next. She slowly made her way up to the Stone, and placed her flower in the pile. She looked at Shino's picture for a few moments, and then broke into tears. Kiba and Hinata walked up to Kurenai, and both of them grabbed one of her hands each. Kurenai looked down at the pair, and then hugged them tightly for a few minutes. Everyone watched the trio, not bothering to disturb them, and letting them take their time. The trio then walked off from the stone together, and took their place in line, side by side.

Next was the Aburame family, starting with the mother, father, and brother of Shino. Shino's mother and father placed their flowers on first. The mother immediately began to cry, and Shino's father brought his arm around her shoulders, walking back in line, soothing her on the way back. His brother, who was still in the academy, placed his flower on the pile as well. He stood there for a minute in a determined stance, and then made his way back into line.

The rest of the Aburame family followed. Each of them placed their flower on the pile, stood there for a few moments to make a prayer in his name, and then fell back. After the last of the Aburame's fell back in line, the rest of the Konoha Ninja each went up respectively, and repeated the process the Aburame family went through. Finally, Jiraiya walked up to the stone and placed his flower on the pile. Offering a prayer, he walked back into line.

Tsunade then walked back up to the Memorial Stone. All of the Konoha Ninja looked up at her, giving her their undivided attention once again. "Now, may we all take a minute to bow our heads in the memory and honor of Aburame Shino."

Without hesitation, all of the people in attendance did just that. The bowed their heads. An eerie quiet filled the field in which the Memorial Stone was. Each ninja was now in their own thoughts, once again offering their prayers and remembering Shino.

"You may raise your heads." All of the ninja began to raise their heads once again, and once again looked to the Hokage. "I would like to thank you all for attending the funeral. The service is now over. You may stay here longer if you wish, or you can leave. Thank you again, and good day." With those words, Tsunade walked away from the Memorial Stone and over to Jiraiya. Jiraiya smiled down at her. Tsunade laid her head on Jiraiya's shoulder, and intertwined her hand with Jiraiya's. The two of them then left the scene and made for the Hokage Tower.

The crowd began to leave, and make their way back into town. Hinata, Kiba, Kurenai, Kakashi, and Shino's father, mother, and brother all made their way back in front of the stone and stood in silence.

Naruto had immediately made his way away from the stone, but instead of heading back to town, he made his way into the forest, in the direction of his training grounds. Sakura noticed this, and made to follow Naruto, staying a bit behind him for the most part, deciding to wait until he stopped. Kakashi watched the pair disappear into the forest, and slightly smiled behind his mask, before turning his attention back to the Memorial Stone.

* * *

Naruto hopped from tree to tree in the forest. He had his gaze set down, only looking up every few moments to get his footing and jump to the next tree. Besides that however, his eyes were downcast the whole way.

Sakura stayed behind him a ways, making sure that she was out of range for him to see her. She also moved very quietly in order to keep her presence hidden for the moment. She would reveal herself in due time, but decided that it was better if she wait until Naruto had stopped moving.

After a few minutes of this, Naruto finally broke out of the trees and into the familiar field that was his training grounds. The rain pelted heavily off of Naruto when he finally came to a complete stop.

The rain was finally beginning to make an impact on Naruto, as his hair sagged down due to how wet it was. Naruto stood rooted on the spot and gazed down towards the ground somberly as the rain trickled down his hair and down his clothing.

Sakura looked on, still concealed in the forest. Naruto looked to be extremely down about something now, and he was letting it show in his actions more than he had all day. Sakura then wondered to herself when she should make her move out to talk to him. Something was holding her back, but she couldn't place her finger on what.

Naruto suddenly spoke. "You can come out now... Sakura-Chan."

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. She had concealed herself perfectly, and he shouldn't have been able to pick her out. Regardless, Naruto had caught her, so she made her way out on to the field. She walked up to Naruto, and stood back a few paces from him. "How long have you known..?"

Naruto did not turn around to face her yet. "I felt you behind me ever since we left the Memorial Stone." Sakura looked on, shocked that his ability to sense a persons presence had improved so drastically. "Sakura-Chan... why did you follow me anyways?" Naruto finally turned around and lifted his gaze to meet her own.

Sakura did not answer right away, she stared into his cerulean eyes. They were filled with much pain and sorrow right now. She could not remember Naruto looking so down in all of the time she had known her, except for the one time when he had been returned from his fight with Sasuke. She finally answered. "I just wanted to see what was wrong.. Naruto.."

Naruto's features hardened some. "I told you already Sakura-Chan, there's nothing wrong. If you came out here for that, then you wasted your time."

Sakura was irate at this answer. "Naruto!," she said, raising her voice. "You can't tell me there's nothing wrong. I know you to well, and everything that you've done today has basically screamed out to me that there's something bothering you."

Naruto simply looked at her for a few moments, before turning and facing the other way. "Yeah.. but you don't need to worry yourself over it, you've got more important things to worry about... Sakura-Chan."

Sakura was becoming a bit irritated, but she calmed herself, and made her way over to Naruto. She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Naruto... if I didn't want to know, I wouldn't have followed you. You're one of the closest people in my life. When somethings upsetting you, it hurts me as well.." She paused for a moment. Naruto turned around to look deep into her eyes, trying to see if she was being completely honest with him. Sakura warmly smiled at him. "So please.. can you tell me what's bothering you?"

Naruto looked at her for a final time, and then looked away. "I suppose.. this whole mess with Akatsuki has been on my mind."

Sakura answered immediately. "Yeah, it's been on my mind to, that and getting back Sasuke-Kun." Naruto didn't reply to this. Sakura looked at him questioningly before continuing. "I get the feeling that there's more to this."

"When I look at this, I look at how many people have died because of it, and how many more will most likely pass away as well." Sakura tensed up a bit, but squeezed Naruto's shoulder, signalling him to continue. "We nearly lost Gaara.. and we got him back, only to lose Chiyo Baa-Sama. We lost many more Konoha Ninja to the duo of Hidan and Kakuzu, including Asuma-Sensei.. and then just recently.. we lost Shino and Akamaru, and we nearly lost Kiba and Hinata as well."

Tears began to well out of Sakura's eyes as he spoke this with so much sadness etched in his every word. "You know what the worst part about this is?" Sakura didn't answer, but simply tightened her grip on his shoulder even more. "The fact that this whole mess is because they want to capture me, to get what I hold inside.."

Sakura finally spoke up again. "Naruto, this isn't your fault. You can't control the actions of those criminals. You're the victim is all of this Naruto.. don't you ever blame yourself for this!"

Naruto spoke once again. "But it partially is, Sakura-Chan." Sakura simply listened on, sensing he had more to say. "So many people from the country are killed in cold blood, all in an attempt to get to me. Do you think, that if I wasn't here, in Konoha, that they would attack this country?"

Sakura looked at him now, with both rage and sadness. "That doesn't matter, Naruto. Even if you weren't here, they would eventually attack this place anyways. The only difference is time."

"Yeah..." Naruto said, "that's probably the only reason I haven't fled Konoha these last couple months." Naruto paused before continuing. "I know that if we're going to stop Akatsuki and their goals, we have to stick together. It makes us that all the more stronger and formidable."

Sakura nodded, and opened her mouth to speak, but Naruto spoke again. "But then again... I've also considered the fact that I should just cease to exist." Sakura's eyes widened in shock and terror at these words. "If that happened, Akatsuki wouldn't attack Konoha because there would be no Jinchuuriki here. They also would be at least one tailed beast short, and their goals would never be achieved, as the Kyuubi would die along with me."

Sakura retorted, bringing her gaze down. "That's out of the question Naruto. You can't, and you won't do that. You mean to much to everyone around here, to all of your friends... You mean to much to me Naruto..."

Naruto spoke up again. "I would've performed the deed already, however..." Sakura looked up again, "I made a promise to you Sakura-Chan. I promised that I would bring Sasuke back to you. That was my promise of a life-time, and I won't go back on my words. You're too important to me.. for me to break that promise." Sakura simply looked at him, shock etched on every feature of her face. "It just... really hurts Sakura-Chan.. that more of my friends, that more ninja, that more innocent lives in this country are going to be lost, all because of this damn fox! I'm.. not worth the protection that this country offers me.."

Sakura immediately turned Naruto around, much to his surprise, and she instantly wrapped her arms around him, enveloping him in a very tight hug. "Naruto.. don't say crazy thing like that. You are so worth the effort Naruto!"

Naruto was too stunned at her actions and words to react, so Sakura continued. "Naruto... I need you to make me another promise.." Naruto looked down at her, signalling her to continue. "I need you to promise me, that you won't ever run away. I also need you to promise me that you won't get killed, and that you won't kill yourself in order to protect the village. I need you... Naruto.."

Naruto didn't react for a few moments, making Sakura wonder what he was thinking. However, before she could speak, Naruto brought his arms around Sakura, and returned the hug she was currently giving him. "OK Sakura-Chan... I promise."

Sakura smiled happily as tears still poured freely down her face. The heavy rain continued to pelt the two of them as they stood, but they were oblivious to it, as well as the rain running down the both of them. Naruto and Sakura embraced each other like their life depended on it, none of them wanting to let go. The two of them stood there, in that position, for what seemed to be an hour, but was really only ten minutes.

Naruto and Sakura finally pulled back a little, only to gaze deeply into the other's eyes, seemingly searching the very fabrics of their being through each others glowing eyes. It was then, that they realized just how close they were. Naruto began to inch his face closer to Sakura, and Sakura did likewise, both of them not really aware of it. Their lips were mere inches apart...

"Hey Naruto, are you alright... oh hey there Sakura." Kakashi had appeared right beside the pair, shocking the both of them, they instantly flew apart, the moment destroyed, once again, by Hatake Kakashi."

Sakura turned away slightly, attempting to hide the blush that had a color very much resembling her own hair. She then turned to Naruto and smiled warmly at him. "Well, I'm glad that I was able to help somewhat. I'll see you later, Naruto." With those words, she made her way back to town.

"See you around... Sakura-Chan.." Naruto had replied. Sakura waved, acknowledging that she had heard him.

Kakashi then rubbed the back of his head, smiling behind his mask. "So, what was bothering you Naruto, and what was up with that?"

Naruto turned his head to face Kakashi, his eyes dancing with rage. "You ALWAYS show up at the worst possible times, don't you!?"

Kakashi continued to smile behind his mask, pretending to be oblivious to what was occurring. "Why Naruto, what ever are you talking about?"

Naruto closed the distance between the two of them, and grabbed Kakashi by the collar. "Next time you decide to show up, read the atmosphere before you decide to bud in!!"

Kakashi backed off a bit from Naruto, and turned his tone to being serious. "In all honesty Naruto, it did seem as though there was something bugging you today, is everything fine?"

Naruto smiled and turned in the direction Sakura had left in. "Yeah... I'm doing a bit better now anyways.." Naruto then turned back to Kakashi. "If you don't mind, I'm going to head home for a while, I'm kind of tired."

Kakashi smiled again. "Yeah sure. Alright then Naruto, we'll see you later."

Naruto smiled and turned around, and began to make his way back home. "We'll see you later Kakashi-Sensei." With those words, Naruto sped off home, the scene he just had with Sakura replaying constantly in his mind.

**

* * *

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**Author Notes -**I wonder how many of you hate me now. I mean, that's the third time Naruto and Sakura have been interrupted. Guess who's interrupted them each time? I'm thankful that I'm getting this chapter out when I am. I have my reasons, but I will tell you in due time, so I don't spoil it. Anyways, this chapter, as you can see, covered Shino's funeral. We'll assume the Akamaru was given a private funeral. We also got a small glimpse into Akatsuki. And then of course, there was a bit of relationship building. Looking at this chapter, I'm actually very happy with it, so I truly hope that you guys enjoyed reading it. I have good news to give as well. Chances are, we only have one more chapter (possibly two, but highly unlikely), until we get away from the training arc, and into some action. So bear with me a little while people. Next chapter, I can't exactly say right now. I'm torn between two possible paths to write this chapter, so I can't exactly give you something to look forward to. I look forward to reading and replying to your reviews, and until next time.


	11. Results of Three Months

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**

**Author Notes**- Hello again people, it's time to begin Chapter 11. This chapter is basically going to detail the last day of Naruto's training. It will show how far he's come in the last three months of Naruto World. Well, it sort of will. You see, you won't know everything Naruto can do until the end of this fic. So I guess, the point of this chapter is to show that Naruto is very powerful now. You'll get the point later on. I'll also give you a brief glimpse at Team Snake, so you'll also get an idea of where I'm going to be going with this once the fun stuff starts. Now with that said, I come bearing good news. This is the last training chapter! After this, as I just said, the fun stuff begins. Last chapter I said that I was thinking of taking this one way or another. Well, I decided that I can just include the main point of the other option as a flashback. Also, I hope that you don't mind the wild jumping of time. I decided it would probably be better if I detailed what he would be up to, and then get to this point. I could've given you ten more chapters of watching Naruto go to train with all of his teachers, and adding a small little twist in each time, but I decided that I'm incredibly lazy, and you guys don't need to read tons of filler crap anyways, I've already given you enough. Thank you to all the reviewers, I noticed that last chapter had my highest total of reviews, so I thank all of you readers for that. I can't explain it, but I really enjoy replying to your reviews. Anyways, enough of my ranting, on with Chapter 11!!

_this font is for thoughts_

_this font is for flashbacks_

**this font is for jutsus and techniques**

**this font is for kyuubi**

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Chapter 11: Results of Three Months

Naruto's alarm clock began to blare off once again, signalling that it was 6am, and that it was time to get up and start training. Naruto shifted his body to lay down on his other side. While in the process of doing that, he brought his arm around and punch in his alarm, effectively silencing it. Naruto wanted to remain sleeping, but he knew that he was supposed to meet Gai and Lee in about 2 hours. It was rather later than he had normally met him, but he had some business to take care of first

Naruto sat up, grinning widely. He was rather saddened that today was going to be the last day that he could use "Gravities Effect," but it also signalled the end of three grueling months of training, and it signalled the beginning of getting back to what he wanted to do most: Fulfilling his promise to Sakura and bringing Sasuke back to Konoha.

_Sakura-Chan... I wonder how much stronger she's become? Kakashi-Sensei better have fulfilled his promise and trained her to master her water element affinity._

Naruto turned to his right and picked up his alarm clock. He then turned around to his left, and chucked it into a bin he had set up in the corner, filled with a good thirty more alarm clocks. Naruto had become quite a good shot. He was getting used to tossing alarm clock after alarm clock into that bin.

With that, Naruto got up out of his bed, and made his way into the shower. He took a rather quick shower, and then tossed on a white bath robe, in order to easily clothe himself to simply walk around the house. Naruto then quickly cooked up and eat a bowl of ramen. He quickly threw on his orange jumpsuit, and tied his Forehead protector on. Naruto then made his way towards the into a small mountain range a little ways from the village.

As of now, Naruto had mastered every jutsu in the huge scroll his father had left for him. There was only one more jutsu that Naruto had yet to master, and at the rate his clones were going, he was expecting to be able to finally complete and master it today.

_Flashback_

_Naruto was nearly drooling from all the ninjutsu that were listed here. He was having a hard time choosing which one he would want to begin learning first. He had noticed that a lot of the jutsu on here were element based, so he would have to practice harnessing different elements. _

_While looking over the parchment, Naruto noticed, out of the corner of his eye, a small piece of rolled up parchment was rolling away from his little area. Naruto quickly got up and snatched it. He untied the small string keeping it rolled up and opened it to read it. the contents of it contained only one jutsu. However, Naruto couldn't help but notice three things about it. This jutsu was rated the highest difficulty to master, and the power of the technique only read 'off the charts.' He also noticed at the top there were two words, capitalized and underlined. The words simply read '10 complete.' Naruto gave the piece of parchment a small smile._

_A technique that's 'that' powerful.. and it's this powerful at only 10 completion. Makes me wonder how powerful it is when mastered. Suppose there's only one way to find out. I'm making it my personal goal to master this technique._

_With those thought's Naruto tucked the piece of parchment in his jacket pocket, and turned back to look at all the ninjutsu just waiting for him to master them._

_End Flashback_

Naruto smiled at the thought of finally mastering that jutsu. While these thought's occupied his mind, he suddenly found himself in the middle of the mountain range he had been making his way to. He found a flat area in between the mountains, and crossed his hands in a "t."

**Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu**

Once again, one-thousand Naruto clones appeared out of no where, and took up the surrounding area. They all looked generally confused at the change of scenery.

"Hey! What are we doing here!?" One clone pipped up

"Aren't we supposed to be on the regular training grounds?"

"You!" Another Clone pointed out the real Naruto, "you've got some explaining to you."

Naruto had a rather bored expression on his face. He had become more or less used to all the bickering and the outbursts that the clones had, so it didn't faze him the way it had done three months prior.

"It has to be here. That technique you guys are completing today, is incredibly powerful. As big as the training field is, it can't hold up to the impact and damage that this technique would have on it. It would wipe the training grounds out." The clones began to nod there heads and smile at the obvious assessment. Naruto then continued. "I'm thinking that you guys should be able to complete it today. If you do, it'll mean that we have to 'Final Attacks' that we can fall back on."

"Haha, then we'll be super incredibly powerful!" A clone exclaimed

"Yeah, then we'll definitely bring back Sasuke, whether it's peacefully or by force!"

Naruto smiled and turned his back on the clones. "Alright then, get started on that training. Spread out around a certain point, and have an impact zone for the attack, I don't want any clones getting dispelled, and I only want one impact zone, you guys got it!?"

"Yeah, yeah, we got it already," a clone exclaimed.

"Alright then," Naruto replied, "I'll be off to continue training in the other ninja styles. You guys enjoy yourselves."

The clones merely waved in response and then got to work. Naruto simply made his way back to the village. He was going to be late in meeting Gai and Lee by about five minutes in his estimation. Even though it wasn't very late, he didn't exactly enjoy having to listen to one of Gai's speeches.

* * *

Naruto finally made his way into town, and had actually made good time as well. Instead, he was only going to be two minutes late. When he got into town, he immediately made way for the top of the Hokage tower, where he was to meet Gai and Lee.

Gai and Lee were waiting very impatiently on top of the Hokage tower. Lee was currently doing as many push ups as he could, except he was doing one fingered push ups with Gai sitting on his back. Gai meanwhile, was sitting cross legged and was currently slapping his head for some odd reason. Naruto came upon this scene and looked extremely dumbfounded.

_I was only two minutes late..._

Naruto directed his attention to Lee, while Gai stood up and got off of Lee's back. "Naruto-Kun, you are late! Tell me how you can excuse yourself from such displays of un-youthfulness young Naruto-Kun?"

Naruto raised his eyes to meet Gai's face. He simply responded, "hmm?"

Gai grabbed both sides of his head with his hands and looked completely mental. "Oh My God!! Has Kakashi been giving you lessons on being hip!?" Naruto was about to respond when Gai turned around to face the mountain, and shouted out to no one in particular, "Damn you Kakashi!!"

Naruto 'sweat dropped' and then replied, "I was only two minutes late Gai..."

Gai turned around and smirked. "Yes, but two minutes late is two minutes wasted on making your way here, in which we could have already begun our youthful training!"

Naruto waved off his answer. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I think I'll live through it." Naruto then noticed Lee walking to Gai's side, and he continued. "So then Gai, what are we going to be doing today?"

Gai flashed his signature smile, and then replied. "Well Naruto-Kun, I think for today, we shall do TWO-THOUSAND LAPS AROUND KONOHA!!"

Naruto fell over, and Lee pumped both of his arms, and gazed at Gai. "Yes Gai-Sensei, thank you so very much!" Lee then turned to Naruto. "Come Naruto-Kun, let us begin our youthful laps!" With those words, Lee took off. Naruto groaned loudly, stood up, and made his way to follow Lee.

_Flashback_

_Naruto ran by his house for what seemed to be the one-thousandth time. He was absolutely drained. Running constantly around Konoha with 'Gravities Effect' on was killing him. The bright side of it was that he was now able to run faster with it on than before, and that on his first lap, he had taken a slightly longer route and got his clones set up. But it still didn't stop him from being ready to collapse._

_"Naruto-Kun, you've only done two hundred laps in three hours, I am very disappointed!" Naruto looked up to Gai, preparing for what he was going to say. "Your punishment, will be running one hundred more laps of shame around Konoha." Naruto groaned loudly._

_"Lee, I am very proud of you, you did five hundred laps in three hours." Lee pumped up his fists and looked at his Sensei. "Now, go forth Lee, and run five hundred laps of victory!"_

_Rock Lee jumped up in excitment. "Thank you, Gai sensei."_

_Gai flashed him his signature smile, and with that, Lee took off at amazing speed around Konoha._

_End Flashback_

Naruto groaned silently. He was half wanting to see if he could keep up with Lee now, with him having his chakra weights on and Naruto having 'Gravities Effect' activated. However, those memories convinced him otherwise. He was going to make sure that he stayed at least a little bit behind Lee, in fear of the victory laps.

* * *

About six hours later, Naruto landed rather hard on the Hokage tower, having finally finished the two thousand laps he had been assigned. Lee had finished a half hour ahead of him, but Naruto wasn't mad, he was inwardly smiling evilly, while he took his time to catch his breath. Lee was jumping up and down on the spot, waiting for Gai to speak, and to give him his reward for finishing first.

_Those two... are fucking nuts..._

Naruto finally looked up at Gai, was shaking his head. "Naruto-Kun, Naruto-Kun... tsk, I'm very disappointed in you. Lee beat you by a full half an hour. Yet again, I'm afraid that I will have to assign you five hundred laps of shame.." Naruto let his head go limp and looked straight down at the ground, only to cover the malicious smile that was creeping up on to his face. "Now, Lee!"

Lee stood in attention and replied, "Yes Gai-Sensei!?"

Gai stood there for a moment, and then gave Lee his reward. "YOU SHALL NOW RUN TWO THOUSAND LAPS OF VICTORY!!" Gai then flashed his signature toothy smile.

Lee pumped his arms up once again. He shouted some incoherant nonsense, before taking off to begin his "laps of victory."

Naruto wiped the smile off of his face, and glanced at the clock tower, which now read 2pm. Naruto did a double take, and then smirked inwardly once again. He was supposed to meet Tenten for Kenjutsu training. Naruto then made his way over to Gai, and stopped a couple feet away from him. "Hey Gai..." Gai looked over at Naruto questioningly. Naruto took this as a signal to continue. "Um.. I'm supposed to meet Tenten." Gai raised his huge eyebrow at him, and Naruto waved his hands in front of him a continued. "I'm supposed to meet her for Kenjutsu training, not what you're thinking... jeez, I have no interest in her in that way."

Gai flashed him his trademark smile again and replied. "Alright alright go on." Gai then waved his hands at him. "However, you still owe me these laps!!"

Naruto groaned inwardly, but turned around regardless and waved at Gai. He then made his way to meet Tenten.

* * *

Tenten was leaning impatiently against the fence that surrounded the 'Forest of Death,' waiting for Naruto. She had been waiting for a good half hour, and was becoming increasingly irritated. It's not that she wasn't used to it. Naruto always showed up late for the Kenjutsu training. It just seemed like he never made an effort to be on time. Today was the latest he had ever been, regardless of the fact that it was the last day that she would be teaching Naruto Kenjutsu.

Tenten had basically taught her everything she knew. Naruto had the groundwork down, he knew all the strategies, attacks, and defence that came to sword play. His only problem was that he was lacking speed. Little did she know, that wasn't going to be a problem either.

With those thought's occupying her mind, Naruto finally leaped down from a nearby tree, panting in order to attempt to catch his breath. Tenten saw this, and merely threw a smirk his way. "Hey there Naruto, late again are we?" She closed her eyes, continuing to lean against the fence, all the while shaking her head.

Naruto looked up at her and replied, "Jeez Tenten, how the hell did you survive having Gai as your teacher for so long?" Tenten looked at him confused, so he continued. "You realize I'm always late because that god damn slave driver keeps me there for so god damn long."

Tenten snickered, and Naruto continued to protest. "Hey, be quiet!" He yelled. "It's annoying enough having to listen to him rave about "youthfulness" and all that other crap while being driven into the ground, let alone having you laugh at the predicament!"

Tenten shook her head in disbelief as she tossed him a sparring sword, in which he picked it out of the air. He looked down to thank her, only to see her already charging at him. She took a swipe at his legs with her own sword, which Naruto neatly blocked, having slipped into a sparring stance.

"Trying to jump the gun there are you?" He asked. Tenten simply smirked again and brought her sword to Naruto's torso. Naruto stepped back and blocked. Tenten instantly spun and took a side swing at Naruto's hip. Naruto brought his sword to block his left. Tentens sword was on the outside, while Naruto's was on the inside. Naruto smirked. Sensing the opening for an attack, Naruto slid his sword down hers and took a swipe at her midsection. Tenten jumped back, throwing her midsection back to narrowly miss the blow, however, the dodge made her lose balance. Naruto dropped into a crouching position and cleanly sweeped her legs out from beneath her. Tenten fell hard to the ground. When she hit the ground, she quickly regained her composure and went to bring her sword to block, but Naruto's was already resting gently on her neck.

"Look's like I win this round." Naruto said. He then grinned widely, rubbing it in a little more. Tenten sulked and turned away for a moment. Naruto offered his hand to Tenten. She turned back, and smiling, she graciously accepted his hand, and he pulled her back up to her feet.

She turned around and walked a few paces back, before turning around to face Naruto once again. Naruto got into his ready position, bring his sword down and to his right, his gaze unwavering. Tenten slipped into her own, and smiled widely.

Naruto looked at her curiously, something seemed to be off about that smile. "Hey.. what's that smile../" He never got the chance to finish, as he felt an all to familiar presence leap out from a tree to his right. Naruto smirked, and turned to face the new arrival, bring out his sword to block the strike from above from another blade.

"Hmmph, so that's what it was about." Naruto then powered his sword forward, and Neji stumbled backwards from the force, but regained his footing and slipped into his own stance. A smile also slipped on to the Hyuuga's face.

"Well, you sure have done a good job with him Tenten."

"Tenten smiled wider and stepped forward a couple paces. "Yeah, I'd have to agree. Thing is, me alone was getting to be to easy for him. I think a two on one spar will even those odds." She then side stepped to her right, and stopped when she was across from Neji, with Naruto in between them. He was now extremely happy that he had decided to deactivate 'Gravities Effect' for this particular training session. He had done so on the way from Gai.

Naruto stepped back a couple paces and smiled. As much as the odds were against him, he was looking forward to this. He glances one way, and then the other. Suddenly, Tenten and Neji both simultaneously made their move!

* * *

Neji was kicked back, via Naruto's foot, and flew towards the tree. This left Naruto and Tenten going one on one momentarily. Neji immediately flipped around in mid air, and placed his feet on the tree. He then bent his knees, and sprung off with amazing force. Naruto had just caught Tenten off guard, and was about to bring his sword to rest on her neck, when he caught Neji coming towards him once again. Naruto jumped up in the air and made to flip over Neji. Neji's sword came up to try and nick Naruto, but Naruto had brought his sword down to cover his landing. The metal clashed with a resounding 'clang,' as Naruto landed face to face once again with Neji and Tenten.

The two of them began to whisper to each other, and Naruto slipped into his stance once again. This same problem had been occurring for the past hour. Naruto would be on the defensive most of the time, considering the two on one odds. He would effectively separate the two of them when the opportunity arose, and he would come extremely close to pinning the other one down with his blade, before their partner would jump right back into the fray.

_I've got a pretty good strategy going, but since we're not fighting to kill, it won't work. Separating the two of them has done nothing.. they just keep coming back before I can finish the other..In this situation, it's impossible to win with merely one blade.. wait.. that's it!_

Naruto smirked at his own genius, as Neji and Tenten began to circle Naruto. It seemed they had come up with a different strategy as well. Naruto's gaze never left the pair of them, wondering when they would make their move. Finally, only Tenten attacked. Naruto smiled even wider. This strategy of theirs fit right into what he wanted to do.

Tenten's sword clashed with Naruto's, but instead of quickly striking, she scraped her blade against Naruto's, in an attempt to pin it down. Neji then sprung, and tried to get Naruto from behind. Naruto jumped high into the air as Neji sped in. He then threw his leg's behind him and brought his sword back from Tenten's. Neji charged in too far, and was forced to stop when he came to close to Tenten. Naruto meanwhile, had landed neatly behind Neji. He then rested his blade on the back on Neji's neck. He then moved forward, coming out on Neji's right, all the while keeping his sword laying on Neji. Tenten attempted to stab at Naruto, but he weaved inside of her attack and came face to face with her. Kunai in hand, he thrust it outwards, and let the Kunai rest on Tenten's neck, effectively ended the tilt.

The three of them were breathing very hard, as they all dropped their weaponry and collapsed to the ground. Naruto lay down on the cool, crisp grass as Neji and Tenten just sat down.

Tenten warmly smiled in Naruto's direction. "Great job there Naruto!" she exclaimed. "I really don't have anything to teach you anymore, you've surpassed me already. Take an early day."

Naruto sat up at that news and grinned. "Thanks Tenten!"

Tenten then replied, "No problem Naruto." She paused for a moment, and then continued. "You know.. it was rather fun teaching you swordplay. I'd do it all over again you know."

Naruto reduced his grin to a smile. "Yeah, I had fun too. We might have to spar whenever we have spare time on our hands. I always have a blast."

Tenten quickly replied to this statement. "Yeah, definitely! and trust me, you won't be getting off so easily when that happens!"

Naruto waved it off, and looked at her smugly. "Heh, I don't think so." He then turned away and began to make his way back to the village. "You two have fun then ya?"

Neji and Tenten both waved at him. Neji then replied. "Yeah, don't worry about us Naruto, we'll be fine." Tenten smiled at this comment and lightly blushed. Naruto picked up that blush and smirked deviously.

He then hopped into the trees. Before leaving however, he turned around, and his gaze, expectedly fell upon Neji and Tenten bringing their lips to meet the other's, and passionately making out. Naruto looked at the scene and shook his head. He needed to do something about what he was looking at. Naruto dug around in his pocket, and then tossed a copy of the book "Icha Icha Tactics" at Neji's feet. He wasn't too worried. He had another copy at home.

Neji looked down at the book, and then glared up at Naruto, who was smirking at the pair of them.

"Naruto!" Neji yelled. "What the hell is this crap for!?"

Naruto smirked even wider. "It's 'Icha Icha Tactics,' even you should know what that is!"

Neji continued to glare at Naruto. "Yeah, so!? What the hell would I want with this book?"

Naruto's smirk was spread widely across his face by now. "You need it. I suggest you read it for some tips. It looks like you're eating her face down there!" With those words, he sped off into the distance.

Tenten turned away and deeply blushed, while Neji's face was contorted with rage. He then chucked a rock in the direction Naruto had taken off in. He then sneaked the copy of "Icha Icha Tactics" into his pocket, which went unnoticed by Tenten. He then turned to face her and continue where they had left off.

* * *

Naruto came to a sudden halt in the large field that he had dubbed his training grounds. He then simply stood there, waiting for Jiraiya to show up. He was ending his training by training with him. He usually met up with Kurenai before meeting up with Jiraiya, but..

_Flashback_

_Kurenai's sitting room was beginning to fill with chakra. Kurenai had put Naruto in her most effective jutsu. If he sucumbed to it, she wasn't going to kill him, but simply render him unconscious. However, it was looking as though Naruto was coming closer and closer to powering out of it._

_The atmosphere was beginning to thicken, and Naruto's chakra was beginning to concentrate on Naruto's position. He gritted his teeth together, and with one final, great effort, Naruto powered out of the Genjutsu. He immediately collapsed on his back and looked at Kurenai's roof. _

_That scenery was immediately interrupted, as Kurenai stepped into his view. She smiled sweetly and offered her hand. Naruto graciously accepted it, and pulled himself up, dusting himself off as he did so._

_"Well Naruto," Kurenai stated, "That was my most powerful Genjutsu. There's nothing more you can learn from me in the field."_

_Naruto pumped his fist. "Alright!" He exclaimed, "Now I can defend against those god damn annoying Genjutsu's!"_

_Kurenai smiled faltered a bit. "Yeah.. thing is, Uchiha Itachi's Genjutsu is so much more advanced than mine. You'll have to be careful of him." Naruto nodded in confirmation, and Kurenai continued. "Also, in order to further improve your Genjutsu defence, I want you to meditate daily for at least an hour a day." Naruto nodded again in confirmation. "Alright then, I guess that's it. It was a pleasure teaching you Naruto." She then thrust her hand out._

_Naruto looked down at the hand and smiled warmly. he then brought his hand out and grasped Kurenai's. They shook hands briefly, and then let go. "Yeah, it was fun Kurenai. Thanks a lot. I really do appreciate it."_

_End Flashback_

Naruto smiled at the memory for a moment, but then his face got serious again. He sensed Jiraiya was nearby. He waited for a moment, and then smiled as he heard his sensei shout out.

**Doton: Nomi Yuma**

Jiraiya smirked, as he thought that he had caught Naruto off guard this time. He of course didn't put all of his chakra into it. he wasn't looking to kill him. The swamp was only deep enough to swallow him so his head was sticking out.

The ground instantly began to suck Naruto in. he didn't move however, and he just smiled even wider. As he sunk deeper, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Jiraiya looked shocked for a moment, but then let a smile cross his face as well as he walked into the clearing. "Nice job there Naruto."

With those words, he looked up into a nearby tree, to see Naruto sitting there, a leg dangling off of the branch he was situated on, and he himself was leaning back. He smiled at Jiraiya and replied. "Thanks Ero-Sennin. You know, I don't think you've ever caught me before in these last months."

Jiraiya smiled wider and shook his head. "Don't get cocky there Naruto, now come on down."

Naruto willingly complied, and silently jumped down from the tree, and walked over to Jiraiya. Jiraiya looked on until Naruto stood a few paces away from him. Jiraiya then spoke. "Alright then Naruto, today we're not going to be training."

Naruto looked dumbfounded and bored at the same time. He was hoping for a spar with Jiraiya or something, but it looked like that wasn't going to be happening.

Jiraiya simply continued on. "Today, I wanted you here just to discuss what it most likely going to be taking place." Naruto nodded in confirmation, and listened on. "Tomorrow, Tsunade will be summoning you, Sakura, and Sai to her office. I'm not exactly sure what she has planned, but it looks like things will go back to the way they were before we began this training."

"I see.." Naruto replied, "do you know what she's got planned."

"No.." Jiraiya replied, "Judging from the way she brought it up though, it's going to have something to do with Akatsuki or Sasuke and his team." Naruto nodded again, and secretly was hoping that it was going to have to do with Sasuke.

Jiraiya continued on "There's one more reason I wanted to meet you." Naruto looked at him curiously, signalling him to continue. "I've heard.. whispers.. that Orochimaru may still be alive and lurking around."

Naruto looked extremely shocked. "Wait! Didn't Sasuke already kill Orochimaru!? Didn't you say that you heard so from a very reliable source!?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "Yeah.. I did say that, but this same source has told me that he's creeping around. Why this is the case, I have no idea. There's most likely something more to Orochimaru than meets the eye."

Naruto looked down towards the ground, frusterated with the situation. "Well.. that's just great, that just means one more enemy for us to worry about. As if there wasn't enough trouble for us already!"

Jiraiya smiled sadly at Naruto. "Yeah.. sorry that you've got so much going against you kid." He paused for a moment before continuing. "I'm hoping you don't have to worry too much about him. I'm actually planning to go out into the wild for a little bit and try to gather more information on him. I'm not sure how long I'll be, but I just thought that you should know."

Naruto's face looked worried for a moment, but he quickly hid it with his trademark grin. Jiraiya had caught the previous look, and frowned a bit. He dismissed it though. "Hey Naruto." Naruto looked brought his gaze to meet his. "If you run into Pein or Madara.. don't try to take them on by yourself. I know you've gotten stronger, but I'd rather you not risk it. Only take them on when you have back up with you."

Naruto instantly replied. "I have no idea what Pein even looks like.."

Jiraiya also replied to this instantly. "Pein.. has three distinguishable traits to him, besides the Akatsuki cloak. He has orange hair, he has black gadget like things on his face, and he has the Rinnegan eyes."

"Ummm..." Naruto replied. "What do the Rinnegan look like?"

Jiraiya instantly answered. "Well... it's basically just a bunch of circles. Black pupil, and grey surrounds it. You'll know it when you see it."

Naruto smiled. "Alright then, thanks Ero-Sennin."

Jiraiya smiled, and then did something completely out of character for him. He walked up to Naruto, and enveloped him into a manly hug. "Naruto... you make sure you're careful, alright? I'd rather have you stick around for a long time."

Naruto smiled warmly, and returned the gesture before replying, "Yeah... I'll be careful. You be careful as well though Ero-Sennin. I would also like you to stick around a while longer."

Jiraiya smiled, and stepped back. He then gestured Naruto to come walk beside him. Naruto smiled and complied. They then both made their way back towards the village of Konoha.

* * *

Sasuke was sitting on the roof of a small hotel. The other two members at himself had situated themselves in this small town for the last three months. It had been unusually quiet the past three months, and it was making them on edge.

Sasuke let out a loud sigh, as he simply stared out into the starry sky. He was becoming impatient with the lack of activity. As much as this all gave him time to train to kill Itachi, it was making him restless. He wanted to get to the whole "avenging his clan" thing as soon as possible. Karin and Jugo were already sleeping, and Sasuke was getting bored of the night sky, and made to go to bed himself. However, he suddenly picked up an all to familiar presence making it's way very fast to him. He quickly drew out a Kunai from his holster, and brought it out in front of him.

_Looks like I may be able to avenge my clan much sooner than I expected._

With those thoughts, Sasuke quickly turned and tossed his Kunai in the direction of the new presence. However, it also tossed a Kunai, and they both collided in mid air. Sasuke then prepared to charge at his foe.

"Calm down Sasuke." Itachi spoke, calmness flowing from him. Sasuke stopped. His body urged him to keep charging, but his mind told him to hold back. He finally looked fully at Itachi, with his Sharingan activated. This Itachi was simply a clone.

"What the fuck do you want Itachi?" Sasuke replied.

Itachi deactivated his Sharingan. "I'm not here to fight. I'm simply here to talk, and to pass a message on to you."

Sasuke now had his hand on the hilt of Kusanagi, but didn't make to draw it out. He glared at Itachi, Hate etched into every detail of his face and his actions. "Whatever, I really am not interested in anything that you have to say."

Itachi ignored his last statement, and continued on from where he left off. "Our organization, Akatsuki, is heading into Konoha tomorrow." At this news, Sasuke became all the more aware and alert to what Itachi had to say.

"We're supposed to be going in to capture Naruto-Kun, for reasons you already know. However..." Itachi paused, and Sasuke's eyes widened. Itachi then continued, "I'm here right now, to formally challenge you, to a fight to the death. Mangekyu Sharingan or not, I think it seems like a good time to finish this."

Sasuke smirked rather evilly at this comment. "Excellent. Where and when?"

Itachi smirked a little. "I was thinking of the Uchiha Village. What better place for us to finish this in the place where it all began?"

Sasuke then replied. "Sounds good to me."

Itachi turned around from Sasuke and then stated, "Well.. I suppose I'll deactivate this bunshin now.." He brought his hands together...

"Wait!" Itachi turned around at Sasuke's voice to face him. He made to reply, but he was instantly cut off. Sasuke had sped past him, his sword slicing through the clone. "I thought I'd be a good little brother and dispel it for you."

Itachi smirked widely, and in a puff of smoke, disappeared. Sasuke turned around, and sheathed his Kusanagi once again. He then made his way into the hotel. He was definitely looking forward to tomorrow.

* * *

Naruto made his way into his bed. He had eaten his dinner of ramen, and simply decided to stay inside for the night. He had meditated, and he had done all other sorts of various workouts to improve his physical conditioning. He had planned to use every last second of 'Gravities Effect,' and he definitely didn't go back on that promise. It was now midnight, and Naruto was beginning to go to sleep. He was always able to go to sleep instantly. Every time he went to bed, he would lay down, and bring his hands together. He would then dispel the clones. The knowledge that he gained from all of them would then bring him to the state of glorious unconsciousness, and he wouldn't wake up until his alarm went off.

This night was no different. Naruto positioned himself under his blankets, found himself a comfortable position, and brought his hands together, effectively dispelling the clones. The knowledge bombarded his mind, and he began to drift to sleep. One final thought crossed his mind before this happened...

_Heh.. I finally mastered that technique_

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* * *

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Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu Multiple Shadow Clone Technique

**Doton: Nomi Yuma - Ground Element: Swamp of the Underworld**

**Author Notes - **Well, I'm stoked. That ends the "Training" arc. Now we get to move into the fun stuff. I've basically told you what Akatsuki and Team Snake are going to have planned, and now, there's only Konoha left. I have a couple things I want to touch on. First off, I want to discuss Naruto and his power a bit. In this fiction, Naruto is going to be one of the more powerful ninja. However, Naruto is not going to be going all "Demi-God" on all of his enemies and killing them all on whim. As to how powerful he is, I'll leave you all to speculate. I've already told you, that he has two finishing attacks. Will you see them. Well obviously, I wouldn't have given them to him if I was going to just hide them from you. The question is, "when" will you see them. I've shown a little bit more about him, but if I explain them, I'm afraid I'd give to much away. Secondly. I want to talk about Sasuke. I'm going to make something very clear. This is for those who haven't read my profile page. Simply put, I hate Sasuke. He's one of my least favorite characters in the series. I don't know why, I can't place my finger on it, but I just do. Anyways, what I wanted to get at, is that I will not be putting those biases into play when I write this (at least I'm trying not to). Sasuke will be written from a neutral stance. Now my question to you is: "Will I make Sasuke good or evil?" answer in your review if you like. I've already decided whether or not he's going to be good or evil though. Now then. I hope I did an alright job with the chapter. One of those chapters that was simply necessary. Anyways, next chapter.. well, I can't think of how to explain it right now hahaha. Guess you'll just have to wait and see. I look forward to reading and replying to your reviews, and until next time.

**P.S. If someone who runs this site reads this.. PLEASE, change this damn spellchecker back to what it was. The one that you have now lacks.**


	12. Setting Out

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto**

**Author Notes - **Well, I'm happy. Why? Because the training arc is done. I've been looking forward to trying my hand at writing fight scenes, and now we've finally come so close to that time. So, it's time to get on with Chapter 12. In this chapter, the people I've handpicked to go out for this mission will set out. Akatsuki has made their move into Konoha, and Team Snake also makes way for the old Uchiha Clan village. I'm going to try to get most of the prelude crap out of the way in this chapter. Well... most of the prelude crap. I suppose you'll see exactly what I have in mind over the next few chapters. After this chapter and the next chapter, it should be crystal clear who's going to be fighting who in this part of my fiction. The actual fighting will most likely begin next chapter, but I may write an extremely small segment of a fight here. Can't think of much else to say at the moment, except thank you to all that are reviewing my fiction. Now, without further ado, I give you, Chapter 12!

_this font is for thoughts_

_this font is for flashbacks_

**this font is for jutsus and techniques**

**this font is for kyuubi**

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* * *

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Chapter 12: Setting out

Naruto woke up with a start, as his alarm once again sounded off. He had set it for 9am today, because he was expecting to have enough time to get ready before he was summoned to the Hokage Tower. Tsunade wasn't one to wake up as early as 6am, so he figured a nice, round time of 9am would do the trick.

Naruto stretched his arms out, and with an almighty yawn, he swung his legs over the edge of his bed, and simply sat there, simply letting his mind wander. It was a habit Naruto had gotten into. He would usually wake up, only to sit on the ledge of his bed, and stare blankly in front of him for minutes on end.

After performing that part of his morning routine, he made his way to the shower. He turned on the water to make it steaming hot, stepped in, and stood on the spot. He let the hot jets of water flow on to him and run down his hair and himself.

_Flashback_

_Jiraiya was standing in front of Naruto, just one day ago._

_"Today, I wanted you here just to discuss what it most likely going to be taking place." Naruto nodded in confirmation, and listened on. "Tomorrow, Tsunade will be summoning you, Sakura, and Sai to her office. I'm not exactly sure what she has planned, but it looks like things will go back to the way they were before we began this training."_

_"I see..." Naruto replied, "Do you know what she's got planned."_

_"No..." Jiraiya replied, "Judging from the way she brought it up though, it's going to have something to do with Akatsuki or Sasuke and his team." Naruto nodded again, and secretly was hoping that it was going to have to do with Sasuke._

_End Flashback_

Naruto let out a heavy sigh.

_Well__...__ look's like chances are high in going back to business. I've either got to deal with Akatsuki__...__ or I've got to deal with Sasuke. None of the choices seem to be particularly filled with fun and laughter__..._

He was suddenly awoken from his thoughts when a loud knocking sound made its way around the house and into Naruto's bathroom. Hearing this knock, Naruto turned off the shower, and wrapped a towel around his waist. He then quickly made his way to the front door. As he turned the corner, he bumped into the person that was at his house. The two of them tumbled towards the ground as Naruto fell back from the impact, the other person falling down with him.

Naruto grimaced as he rubbed his head in pain. Taking heed of his surroundings, he gazed up at the face Haruno Sakura. She to, was rubbing her head from the fall. She followed the same process as Naruto had, regaining her bearings, before starring into the big, sapphire eyes of Naruto.

Naruto returned the gesture, completely losing herself in the eyes of the girl on top of him. It was an amazing feat that his towel never fell off of his waist. However, Sakura unconsciously moved her hand up Naruto's chest, as Naruto snaked his hand around Sakura's hips...

"Hey Naruto, you're supposed to report to the Hokage immediately!" A vein began to throb dangerously in Naruto's temple, as he looked towards the bearer of the voice. Sakura simply rolled off of Naruto quickly, blushing furiously, having been caught in the position she was in. The silver haired jounin look curiously at the two before continuing. "Oh, hey Sakura, I thought that you were supposed to be at the tower as well."

Sakura twiddled her thumbs together and answered softly. "Yeah... but I decided that I'd come and get Naruto, since he wasn't there yet..."

"I see..." Kakashi stated. He turned his attention back on Naruto, whose face was covered in shadow. "Well then, I guess I'll get back on duty." With those words, Kakashi took off out of the house, sensing that if he hadn't high tailed it right then, he would've been crippled beyond belief.

An awkward silence ensued for what seemed like hours, but was really only a few minutes. Sakura then turned to Naruto and softly spoke. "Naruto... you heard what Kakashi said. We've been summoned for a mission."

Naruto stood up, and dusted himself off. He then turned to Sakura and flashed a grin. "Yeah... I just gotta get dressed and eat something." He then turned towards his room. "Oh, and just make yourself at home while you wait."

A small blush once again tinged Sakura's cheeks as she dumbly nodded and went to Naruto's kitchen. She decided to make Naruto some instant ramen, deciding that if she started it now, they could get to the tower earlier. She decided to also make herself some, realizing that she hadn't eaten either.

Ten minutes later, Naruto walked out of his room, fully dressed and ready to go. He wore the same gear as he had before, only now he had unzipped his orange jacket, and he had brought out the Kubigiri-Houchou. Coincidently, Sakura had just finished the ramen, and had set two bowls on the table.

"Ah, thanks Sakura-Chan, makes it a lot easier," Naruto stated.

Sakura simply smiled at him, and tossed him a pair of chopsticks. Sitting herself down across from him, she picked up her chopsticks, as Naruto did the same. They both exclaimed "Itadakimasu," and dug into the ramen. They both sat in silence, simply eating there ramen, enjoying the other's company. They both didn't want to ruin the comfortable silence that had engulfed the room. Sitting across from one another at the table, simply felt... so right. It felt like the two of them were truly at home in each others company, eating ramen with each other.

Sakura raised her head slightly to look across at Naruto. She smiled warmly at him as he ate. Naruto, sensing that she was watching him, lifted his head to gaze upon her smile. He too, gave a warm smile. Sakura's cheeks tinged red for the third time as she brought her head down and furiously ate the ramen. Naruto watched her for a minute, before returning to his own ramen.

As quick as breakfast had started, it ended. Naruto stood up and took Sakura's bowl from her, since she was done. She smiled in thanks and stood up, making her way to the door. Naruto simply tossed the dishes in his sink, before slinging the Kubigiri-Houchou over his shoulder, and following her out of the house. The two of them then ran through the nature like area, and hopped on to the roofs of the town.

"So Sakura-Chan, did Tsunade Baa-Chan tell you what the mission was?"

Sakura turned around, and shook her head. "No, I have no idea what we're doing. She said she'd tell us when all three of us were gathered." Naruto looked at her quizzically, so she continued. "Sai is there as well. He'll be joining us on this mission."

Naruto grinned at this. "Sai eh? I haven't seen that guy for a while; it'll be good to see him again!"

Sakura smiled at him and turned to face ahead of her again.

"Hey Sakura-Chan. How well did Kakashi instruct you on the water affinity?"

Sakura didn't turn to face him, but her smile turned into somewhat of a smirk. "I've got a pretty damn good idea on it. I've got a few new tricks up my sleeve now. I'd say I'm a lot more formidable than I was three months ago." She then paused for a moment, and then asked, "How about you Naruto?"

Naruto smirked as well. Turning his gaze to face in front of him he stated, "I've gotten a lot stronger now, that's all I really know. I couldn't tell exactly how powerful I am at the moment, because I, myself, have no idea."

Sakura simply replied "That's good," before the pair reached the Hokage Tower. Jumping through an open window, the pair landed beside Sai. Naruto stood in the middle, while Sakura stood on Naruto's right, with Sai occupying the spot to Naruto's left.

"Hey Sai!" Naruto exclaimed upon seeing him. "Long time no see buddy!"

Sai looked at Naruto and smiled. "It's good to see you again, Naruto-Kun. I look forward to another mission with you, and you as well Sakura-San. It's nice to see you again as well." Sakura smiled sweetly at Sai, and opened her mouth to reply, but before she could get any words out, she was interrupted by a loud cough from Tsunade.

"I'm glad that you're happy to see one another again and all, however..." Tsunade sat forward in her chair, leaning her chin into her hands, "We have business to deal with here."

Naruto, Sakura, and Sai all stood at attention, ready to receive their mission. Tsunade opened her mouth to speak...

"Tsunade-Sama!" Tsunade directed her attention to the door. Shizune had made herself known, and she briskly walked in towards Tsunade's desk. "We have a problem... Tsunade-Sama!" Tsunade quirked an eyebrow, signalling her to continue. "According to a patrol team, Akatsuki is now within the borders of Konoha. They tried to confront them, but they were slaughtered, only the one team that reported this made it out of there alive."

Tsunade slammed a hand down on her desk. "Damnit! Just what we needed... Did they get a count on how many came?"

Shizune straightened out and answered, "They didn't have an exact count, but they said that there were at least four Akatsuki there, including Uchiha Itachi!"

Tsunade looked at her desk and once again slammed her hand down on her desk. "Fuck... what perfect timing too.." She looked back up at Tsunade. "Order all ANBU to get out there and hunt them down. Have them split up in teams of three to five and have them scour the country. They aren't to get anywhere near the village!"

Shizune quickly bowed and replied, "Yes, Tsunade-Sama!" With those words, she took off out of the window and made her way towards ANBU headquarters.

Tsunade watched her go and then turned back towards the three ninja in front of her. "Damn... it looks like they're really desperate to get to you now Naruto... you must be the last Jinchuuriki they need to capture."

Naruto bowed his head, and looked down towards the ground. Sakura brought her gaze towards Naruto, every feature of her face showing worry and concern. "Naruto..."

Naruto looked up again and smirked. "Don't any of you worry about it, they'll never get me! I can't die until I become Hokage."

Sai grinned at his remark, and Tsunade let a smirk cross her own face. Sakura looked down, worry still etched on her face.

_Damnit Naruto... I... can't lose you__...__ I don't think I could cope with you being gone__...__ Sasuke is one thing__...__ but you__...__ unlike Sasuke, I don't think I could move on__..._

Naruto interrupted her thought process by placing a hand on her shoulder. She looked up, startled; to gaze upon a warm smile that Naruto was giving her. "Hey, Sakura-Chan... don't worry, it's me." Sakura gulped at this remark, and Naruto continued on. "If it makes you feel any better... I'll protect you, and you can protect me. That way there isn't a chance that they'll get either you or me."

Sakura now returned the smile he gave her and nodded. She made to say something, but for the second time, she was interrupted by a cough from Tsunade.

"Once again, you two... we have to get to business here."

Naruto and Sakura both turned back to Tsunade and nodded. Tsunade then stood up from her desk, and made to gaze outside of the window behind her. "Uchiha Sasuke has been sighted within Konoha."

Naruto and Sakura's jaw's both dropped at this news. Sai simply looked on, not exactly knowing how to respond. Tsunade continued to look outside. "Your mission is to confront him. We need allies against Akatsuki, and I get the feeling he and Akatsuki aren't exactly chums."

Naruto and Sakura both brought their jaws back up, and they both nodded. Sai continued to simply look on. Tsunade turned away from the window to gaze at Naruto and Sakura. "If he gets hostile against you three, then your orders are to bring him in by whatever means necessary, if it's impossible to bring him in by force, then you'll have no choice but to... Kill him."

Naruto and Sakura both opened their mouths to argue, but Tsunade cut them off. "I know that's extremely hard for you to want to do, but you'd have no other choice. Most likely, if you can't get him to come, he'd basically be against us anyways. I don't want him dead, but if it means getting you guys back alive, then I'll have fifty Uchiha Sasuke's killed.

Naruto bowed his head towards the ground. He knew that what Tsunade said was true. If Sasuke wasn't with them, he was most likely against them. It didn't stop Naruto from being angry though. He wanted to get Sasuke back, because he had promised Sakura he would do so.

Sakura's thoughts were similar. She also knew that if Sasuke wasn't with them, he would be against them. However... she wanted to get Sasuke back to Konoha. She wanted to get Sasuke back for Naruto's sake, because he looked so down without Sasuke being around.

Tsunade looked on as Naruto and Sakura looked to be deep in thought. She gave them a moment to think, and then coughed once again to get their attention. Naruto and Sakura both looked up, awoken from there thought's, and ready to listen to Tsunade. "You guys are to leave within the hour, that is all."

"Yes, Tsunade-Sama," Sai replied eagerly. He then hopped out the window and made his way to his house. Naruto and Sakura both walked by Tsunade, gave her a curt nod in understanding, and followed Sai.

Tsunade sadly smiled as the pair made their way away from the tower.

* * *

Three figures made their way through the thick forests of Konoha.

All three sported a black cloak, covering everything except for their heads. The figure on the right was a rather tall person, with spiked up orange hair and a rather calm look on his face. The person of the left was a women, she had black hair that flowed down to her mid-back and her breasts. She also sported glasses, and a rather mean look. The figure in the middle sported raven hair, which more or less gathered behind him, defying gravity. He also sported the Sharingan eyes, and he wore an expression of indifference.

Sasuke, Karin, and Juugo were making their way through Konoha, in order to reach the ghost town that used to be home for the Uchiha Clan. They were mainly going there for Sasuke, because he had an appointment to keep up.

_Flashback_

_"What the fuck do you want Itachi?" Sasuke replied._

_Itachi deactivated his Sharingan. "I'm not here to fight. I'm simply here to talk, and to pass a message on to you."_

_Sasuke now had his hand on the hilt of Kusanagi, but didn't make to draw it out. He glared at Itachi, Hate etched into every detail of his face and his actions. "Whatever, I really am not interested in anything that you have to say."_

_Itachi ignored his last statement, and continued on from where he left off. "Our organization, Akatsuki, is heading into Konoha tomorrow." At this news, Sasuke became all the more aware and alert to what Itachi had to say._

_"We're supposed to be going in to capture Naruto-Kun, for reasons you already know. However..." Itachi paused, and Sasuke's eyes widened. Itachi then continued, "I'm here right now, to formally challenge you, to a fight to the death. Mangekyu Sharingan or not, I think it seems like a good time to finish this."_

_Sasuke smirked rather evilly at this comment. "Excellent. Where and when?"_

_Itachi smirked a little. "I was thinking of the Uchiha Village. What better place for us to finish this, than in the place where it all began?"_

_Sasuke then replied. "Sounds good to me."_

_End Flashback_

Sasuke felt his hatred begin to boil up. This is what he had lived the past six years of his life for. It was for the moments that would come to pass. It was when he and Itachi would finally clash in a fight to the death, and the prospect of the whole idea had Sasuke relishing the adrenaline that he was now gaining.

"Hey Sasuke!" Sasuke looked to his left to look at Karin. "Look's like Kisame's about to meet us; he's waiting at the clearing ahead!"

Sasuke nodded, and with one last great leap, jumped from the branch he had just landed on, and landed quietly in the clearing. Karin and Juugo repeated the process he went through, and the three of them were now a mere ten paces away from Hoshigaki Kisame.

"Well..." Kisame exclaimed in a scratchy voice, "I'm feeling a bit of Déjà Vu here."

Karin and Juugo got into their fighting stances, ready to attack if Kisame would make a move. Sasuke however, simply stood on the spot, waiting for Kisame to continue talking.

"Well then, Sasuke, same drill as before. Itachi only wants you to continue on to the Uchiha Village, you're friends will have to stay here and hang out with me.

Sasuke nodded at Kisame, and then strutted past him. Kisame grinned maniacally as he strode past. Sasuke then leapt up from the clearing, and away from the three people behind him.

Kisame watched for a moment as Sasuke faded into the distance, and then turned towards Karin and Juugo. "Well then, I'm not exactly in the mood to sit here and exchange pleasantries, so what say we have a little fight of our own?" With those words, Kisame slung the Samahada off of his back, and let it crash to the ground in front of him.

Juugo smirked, and slipped into his own battle stance, preparing to attack Kisame. Karin was about to do the same, but then something clicked furiously in her head.

A strong gust of wind blew across the field, which came from the side of where the stood. The blades of grass and the leaves on the trees, swayed in the direction the wind carried them. As the wind died down. Juugo leapt up from his spot and charged at Kisame. Kisame brought his sword up, and grinned. He was definitely ready to get this fight going. However, Karin had other ideas. Before Juugo could get to Kisame's location, Karin jumped in his way, effectively blocking him from getting to Kisame's position.

Kisame looked at Karin with a look of bewilderment and confusion. Juugo's face betrayed the same look as Kisame's. "Um, Karin..." Juugo exclaimed, "Aren't we going to kick the crap out of this guy?"

Karin stepped to the side of Juugo and spoke. "Some Konoha forces are heading this way. Three people, to be exact. One of them has the highest level of chakra I've ever felt... even higher than yours, Hoshigaki Kisame. They could be trouble, and I'm pretty sure we're all agreed that we should let Sasuke and Itachi do their thing one on one." Karin paused before continuing. "The high chakra I'm feeling is something I've felt before. This guy has been trying to find Sasuke for ages, so we already know their goal."

Kisame slung his sword back over his shoulder.

_It could only be the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. Here I wasn't planning on following orders and getting to him, but looks like he's coming to me. This could work out better than expected. We could get Itachi's business done with, and we could bring the last Jinchuuriki back with us__..._

"You two go and meet up with them." Karin and Juugo looked back at Kisame with confusion. "Look, we can't let them get to Itachi and Sasuke, so we should take all necessary precautions. Go meet up with them, and I'll wait here in case one of them breaks through."

The two ninja in front of him looked at him for a moment, and then turned around. Juugo took off in the direction of Konoha. Karin made to do the same, but before she left... "You know Kisame, this doesn't make us friends." With that, Karin followed in Juugo's wake. Kisame grinned maniacally as he decided to sit down and meditate until his enemy came by.

**

* * *

**

A.N: You'll almost never see me do this, but for those interested, this is where I come off of my 2 month stand and begin writing again. More details at the end of the chapter. Also, Kisame scene ends before this Note.

* * *

Naruto looked to his right side to look at Sakura as Sai, her, and himself sped through the vast forest of Konoha. Sakura was staring straight ahead with a look of fiery determination, before she tilted her head in Naruto's direction. She offered him a weak, reassuring smile, which Naruto quickly returned. The pair then turned their heads back in front of them as the continued on.

"Hmm..." Sai suddenly exclaimed. Naruto and Sakura both turned towards him with questioning looks. Sai then returned their gazes and gave his trademark smile. "We should be about halfway to the Uchiha Shrine by now. It shouldn't be too long."

Naruto and Sakura both nodded and quickly looked back in front of them. They were just in time to notice a clay figure drop down from the sky.

Naruto gazed at the figure as it made way to make contact with earth. "This chakra..." Sai and Sakura both turned to Naruto to question him, but he quickly interrupted them. "Damnit, not now! Scatter!"

The two of them didn't question him, and the two of them jumped to the side. Naruto had quickly jumped back in his tracks. The clay figure made contact with the ground below, and blew up with resounding force.

The force of the blast sent the three ninja back, and it proceeded to uproot trees in the area, and make a small clearing, save for about a metre of stump from each tree that had previously been there.

Naruto, despite the blast, was able to flip in midair and land smoothly in a crouching position on one of the dismembered stumps. He then rose from his crouch and looked up into the sky. In the sky, there was another clay figurine, only this one was a much larger bird like figure. On top of that figure, was a man, clad in the familiar robes of Akatsuki, his long, blonde hair, tied in a ponytail flipping about in the breeze as he stood there, smiling almost maniacally down at Naruto.

"Aha!" Deidera loudly shouted. "I finally found you, Kyuubi Jinchuuriki!"

Naruto looked up in anger at the man. "I remember you! You're the fuck that tried to kill off Gaara, you'll pay for that!" Naruto then got into a ready position letting his hand rest on his sword, ready to draw it out in an instant.

Deidera's look only grew, and he burst out into full blown laughter. "HA, HAHA! You! Kill me! This has to be a fucking joke, coming from a little shit like you!" A low, menacing growl erupted from Naruto's throat. Though unheard, it changed the atmosphere of the area. Deidera stopped laughing and looked down once again at Naruto, a smirk still implanted on his face. "Even though you can't beat me one on one, I still have help with me, you couldn't possibly contend with us, hmm!"

Naruto looked up in confusion. "Pein! Hey Pein-Sama! Come on out, and let's get this guy!" Naruto immediately tensed up.

_Flashback_

_"Hey Naruto." Naruto looked brought his gaze to meet his. "If you run into Pein or Madara__...__ don't try to take them on by yourself. I know you've gotten stronger, but I'd rather you not risk it. Only take them on when you have back up with you."_

_Naruto instantly replied. "I have no idea what Pein even looks like..."_

_Jiraiya also replied to this instantly. "Pein__...__ has three distiguishable traits to him, besides the Akatsuki cloak. He has orange hair, he has black gadget like things on his face, and he has the Rinnegan eyes."_

_"Ummm..." Naruto replied. "What do the Rinnegan look like?"_

_Jiraiya instantly answered. "Well... it's basically just a bunch of circles. Black pupil and grey surrounds it. You'll know it when you see it."_

_Naruto smiled. "Alright then, thanks Ero-Sennin."_

_End Flashback_

Naruto looked around to try and find the man, but he couldn't see anyone else, except for Sakura now walking to his side.

"Pein! God damnit Pein, where the fuck did you go, hmm!" Deidera screamed. "You're supposed to stick to the plan, fucking hell, hmm!"

Naruto looked up and smirked. "Ha, looks like your buddy ditched you, now your left all alone, like a pig ready for the slaughter!" taunted Naruto.

Deidera looked back towards Naruto, fury touched upon every feature of his being. "Fuck Pein, I don't need him to deal with you brats!" With those words, Deidera went into his robes, and tossed out six clay figures towards Naruto and Sakura.

Naruto's smirk widened, as he drew the Kubigiri-Houchou from his back and reeled it around to begin his ascent to Deidera's position.

**Sumi Bunshin No Jutsu**

Ink gathered in front of Naruto and engulfed the clay. The clay exploded, but the blast was muffled by the density of the ink, and the bombs had no effect.

Naruto instantly looked to his left to see Sai coming out from where he had jumped to. "Damnit Sai, I had him, you didn't have to do that!"

Sai didn't answer, but instead stepped in front of Naruto, and faced Deidera with no emotion on his face at all. "You guys continue on. You have to get to Sasuke, and you don't need this pantywaist holding you up. I'll face him!" Naruto made to interrupt, but Sai cut him off. "The mission takes priority, and besides... you have a bond to restore Naruto-Kun."

Naruto smiled weakly and offered his hand to Sai. "Alright then man, you better kick this guy's ass and catch up!"

Sai gave him his trademark smile and grabbed his hand and shook. "Don't worry, I will." Sai then turned to Sakura. "Don't let this guy get into too much trouble while I'm not around."

Sakura's face saddened. "Sai..." Sai cut her off though, by turning to face Deidera again. "You guys go, now. I got this."

Naruto and Sakura both nodded, and made off from the area, in the direction of the Uchiha Shrine. Sai saw them off from the corner of his eye, and turned to face Deidera.

"Heh, another artist huh. This will be fun, kicking the shit out of a wannabee fuck like you, hmm!"

Sai didn't answer, but quickly formed hand seals.

**Choujuu Giga no jutsu**

An ink bird quickly formed from out of the scroll and spread its wings in grace. Sai hopped onto the bird and made his way into the skies. Sai then flashed his trademark smile at Deidera, as they looked at each other from a level height.

"Why, you arrogant little shit!" With those words, Deidera chucked 4 more bombs in Sai's direction, as Sai sent ink to clash with the figurines.

* * *

A resounding boom made its way through the forest behind Naruto and Sakura. Sakura turned back sadly towards the area they had just recently left.

"Sai... I hope he'll be alright..."

"He will be Sakura." Naruto exclaimed. Sakura turned towards Naruto, and questioned him. "Are you so sure about that Naruto!? I don't know about this... we should've stayed to help him out!" Naruto didn't answer but simply stared ahead.

_Sai... god damnit, you better be alright, you better kick his ass, and you better catch up!!_

Naruto turned back to face Sakura, and flashed a foxy grin. "Don't worry about it, Sai can handle himself. He said to go on, so we should go on."

Sakura's face softened somewhat, but there was something about his grin that didn't set right. Something seemed a bit off about how he was trying to reassure her. While she appreciated the effort, she would have to make sure to talk to him later on.

She was awoken by her thoughts by Naruto stopping. Sakura stopped beside him and made to ask him what was wrong, but she didn't get the chance, as she was interrupted by him, and he didn't sound too happy. "Oh great... and, what the fuck do you two want?"

Sakura looked ahead, to see two figures leap in front of them from their hiding spots, and face them, with looks that didn't do anything to calm her or Naruto.

**

* * *

**

Sumi Bunshin No Jutsu - Ink Clone Technique

**Choujuu Giga no jutsu - Super Beast Imitation Drawing technique**

**Author Notes: **Hmm, looks like I'm back with another chapter after a long fucking time. Now, I'm expecting one or two reactions to this. One, you'll be happy I've updated, but be extremely pissed I took so long, or two, simply not care because I took so long. My hopes go to the former. I suppose the reason I haven't updated is because of three reasons. One: Laziness. Two: I've been pretty damn busy the last while. Three: I lost my computer for a little bit, but I've now bought a new one. Anyways, onto the chapter. The first wave of confrontation has begun. Naruto, Sakura, and Sai have made their way from the village, and are going straight to where Sasuke is supposed to go. Sai has already stayed back to take on Deidera, and Naruto and Sakura have run into other people. Now... in regards to Pein, I'll get around to telling you what he's up to. That'll probably take up a chapter, but I'm just not sure when I'll do it. Anyways, battle lines are being drawn, and I think that if you look closely enough, I've already clued you in to a few of what those fights will be. So now then, I won't ask you on who you think the two people at the end are, because I figure that's too obvious, so here's three questions for you. Who do you think Naruto will end up fighting? Who do you think Sakura will end up fighting? What do you think Pein is up to? Answer in a review if you like. For next chapter, I have two things I'm thinking of. We'll either go back to Naruto and Sakura, or, we'll go and see what Pein is up to. I have an idea of which would be better, but we'll see what happens. In regards to how often I'll update from now on, here's what I'll try to do. I'll try for updates every Saturday, once a week, because I also have stuff to get on with besides writing fanfic. This Saturday I probably won't update, but I will next Saturday, because I want to work on my writing a bit since it's been a while. I look forward to reading and replying to your reviews, and until next time.

P.S. I have my own spellchecker now, TAKE THAT !!


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